I summited Everest on May
21, 2011 and have climbed it three other times- 2002, 2003 and 2008 each
time reaching just below the Balcony at about 27,500' (8400 meters)
before health, weather or my own judgment caused me to turn back.When
not climbing, I cover the Everest season from my home in Colorado as
I did for the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and
now for the 2015 season. This
page is my 2009 climb coverage.

South Col

Lhotse Face

Western Cwm & C1

Khumbu Icefall

Everest Base Camp

Trekking to Base Camp

June 8 update: Gabriel
Filippi reports that
the entire remaining team of 5 climbers are now back at base camp. They
are not reporting if they made the summit or other details yet. This was
the last team attempting Everest on either side in the Spring season. With
the monsoons moving in, Everest will be quiet until the Fall.

Everest 2009 Recap

The summary is – it was a good year. Now for the details.

Overall this was one of the safest seasons in the past few years in
spite of some difficult weather that created a long delay in early May.
There were over 330 summits and sadly 5 deaths on Everest and one on
Lhotse.

Similar to 2008, the Chinese Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA)
changed the rules and gave vague guidance to teams during the critical
planning period resulting in almost all of the major north side operators
making the switch to Nepal. That fueled speculation of overcrowding,
bottlenecks and record summits and record deaths. And in the end it was
just speculation.

While the route was crowded during the peak summit days of May 19th
and 20th, it was somewhat orderly for such a potential mess. The Sherpas,
Sirdars, veteran guides and expedition operators worked together to put
in redundant fixed lines on the critical sections and even attached permanent
bolts into the Yellow Band to improve safety and speed up the climbers.

Cheers went up in base camp when on May 5th; the fixed line was taken
all the way to the summit by a consortium of Sherpas thus clearing the
way for the masses to summit. British climber David Tait climbed along
with them marking the first western summit of the season. Excited talk
of an early summit year worked its way throughout the community.

However as always in mountaineering, the mountain and the weather have
the last word.

This year it was the Icefall and a dangerous hanging serac that threatened
climbers on every trip through the Khumbu Icefall. Report after report
commented on the ominous threat and climbers adjusted their schedule
to climb in the coldest and darkest part of the early morning to avoid
being underneath it when the warming rays of the sun came out. It seemed
that small avalanches were taking place daily somewhere on the route.
Was global warming real and Everest a casualty?

And then it finally occurred and on May 7 it came crashing down directly
onto the lower third of the Icefall sweeping away three climbers. Sadly
Lhapka Nuru Sherpa, husband and father of three, was killed and his body
never recovered. Several climbers were so shaken by this event that they
aborted their climbs.

Veteran Himalayan operator Russell Brice was so concerned about this
danger that he had a different plan from day one. He allowed the majority
of his team to enter the Icefall only twice – once for acclimatization
to Camp 3 and another during their summit bids. They did the rarely tried
program of using a nearby trekking peak, Lobuche, for the majority of
their acclimatization. In the end almost every member of the team summited.

After the serac fell, there was a slight feeling of relief since the
obvious danger was now dramatically reduced. Climbers continued their
acclimatization programs in earnest with endless sorties through the
Icefall and the eventual night at Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face.

When it all started to look good, the weather moved in and sat on Everest
bringing everything to a screeching halt.

On the Tibet side it was abnormally quiet. Western teams dealt with
delays crossing the boarder and receiving their final permits. But finally
they made it to the Tibetan Chinese Base Camp in mid to late April. The
CTMA took on the role of fixing the rope so the teams watched and waited
while using the time by taking their acclimatization climbs to the North
Col. Information was sparse and details, cryptic.

Teams on the south waited out the storms down valley in the teahouses
and enjoyed the relative oxygen-rich air and sleeping off the ground.
But they knew they had to return so one by one the teams all returned
the base camp always glancing up to see what the day brought. The drama
was notched up when two Nepalese cooks were reportedly poisoned by illegally
brewed whiskey – one was saved but one died, Kaji Sherpa. A sad cloud
dropped over base camp.

Weather windows started to appear but they were short and narrow. One
small team from IMG bravely tried to squeeze into one and made an impressively
quick climb to the South Col only to be turned back by howling winds.
This false start gave everyone room for pause.

Then weather forecasters far away from Everest gave the green light
for summits starting on May 19th – and they were right. For the next
four days, team after team made the long cold climb from the South Col
to the summit. Overall the climbers enjoyed a safe season but a few climbers
needed help and a few rescues took place. It felt like there were a few
more helicopter evacuations from base camp than in prior years.

While every climber is special, a few stood out with their achievements.
Apa Sherpa made his 19th summit – the most ever; Dave Hahn – his 11th,
the most of a non-Sherpa. Sir Ranulph Fiennes – the British exploration
legend who made it on his third try at age 65. And then we had a covey
of 17 year-olds make the top as well.

The oldest American to summit became complicated with Dawes Eddy at
66 summiting but then Bill Burke summited the next day at age 67. As
clarification, the oldest American to summit Everest was Nils Antezana
who was born in Boliva but a US citizen. He summited in 2004 at age 69
but died on the descent.

Korean Park Young-seok opened a new route variation on the Southwest
Face after three previous failed attempts since 1991. Mr. Park is another
rare adventurer with the true Grand Slam under his belt - North and South
Poles plus all 14 of the 8000m peaks.

A mystery was the Kazakhstan team who was looking to do the first true
traverse from Lhotse to Everest and back down the West ridge. Theirs
was a world-class team. Reports were sketchy throughout their climb and
maybe ended with a fuzzy message about "...It doesn't matter, who's
summited and what has he summited. We need only the team success. Somebody
was already looking at himself as on the winner...". After the last
south side effort of the 2009 season, they surrendered to bad weather
on May 26 and returned to base camp. One climber, Serguey Samoilov, reportedly
died on the Lhotse climb. Eleven climbers died across various peaks this
spring season in the Himalayas.

This year’s commercial guides performed well. Asian Trekking’s Eco Everest
effort removed tons of garbage from the Nepal side through a “cash for
trash” program. Peak Freaks continued to set the bar for green climbing.
And safety was also front and center with the larger teams such as Adventure
Consultants, IMG, Jagged Globe, Himex, Alpine Ascents all putting their
climbers on the summit and getting them back safely without drama. It
felt like safety was the top priority for almost every team this year
- well done.

Then there were the independents such as the Finnish Ranger Club who
made a successful expedition without the traditional Sherpa support.
Great effort you guys!

Back on the north, summits started on May 14 with success by the Chinese
and Japanese. That was followed by a few more international teams but
death hit once again with Czech climber, M. Veslav Chrzaszcz, who died
during his summit bid. Then German, living in Canada, Frank Ziebarth,
died during his descent after summiting without bottled oxygen. This
made three deaths on that side including a Chinese climber who died earlier
in the season.

With wave after wave racing against the weather, the final push took
place from the south on May 22nd with more than 50 climbers making it
to the top of the world in the season’s most difficult conditions. We
were allowed to share in their climb courtesy of an Eddie Bauer sponsored
team for their First Ascent clothing line – all this provided the money
to broadcast incredible video and audio during the summit attempts.

And speaking of technology, the Discovery Channel was also there in
2009 filming another of their series, Everest: Beyond the Limits. They
followed climbers with IMG and Himalayan Experience with high-tech infrared
cameras, microwave links and Sherpa-cams. With hair combed and jackets
straight, the teams felt the presence of cameras all around them. The
series is supposed to start airing in November 2009.

But with the high tech and excellent updates from the professionals
it is always the unfiltered personal accounts that bring us in. A few
come to mind: David Tait, Lance Fox, Bill Burke, Christophe Vandele,
Dave Hahn, Gilad Stern, Billi Bierling, and Bud Allen. And then we were
teased by Gavin Bate, Tim Rippel and Scott Paraszynski who tweeted during
their climbs! Thanks for including us and being generous with your time
and thoughts.

To wrap up the season the 17 member Serbian team refused to give up.
Climbing on the north, they stayed through very difficult weather conditions
and eventually climbed to Camp 2 in a sprawling storm. After the rescue
of Norwegian Jarle Trå and other fast retreats, most the climbers returned
to the safety of ABC and called it over on May 29th. A strong effort
in harsh conditions. However as of June 1, Canadian Gabriel Filippi plus
4 other climbers and 3 Sherpas were at ABC holding out hope for a last
minute push.

Another season of Everest climbing is now almost complete. Not as many
summits as I thought there would be. Thankfully not as many deaths as
there have been in previous years – but even one is too many. Hundreds
of climbers saw their dreams come true. Hundreds of Sherpas made enough
money to last until the next climb. Hundreds of friends and families
wait with open arms for their climber to come home.

Yes, it was a good year.

Thank You
to all the readers of this site this year and for the past 9 years. You
are the reason do it. Your comments and encouragement from my Everest
coverage to my own adventures are simply amazing and honestly keeps
me going from time to time.

Now that I am retired (early - hey I am not THAT old!) and have made
climbing and Alzheimer's fund raising as my life work you will see me
ask for donations to go to Alzheimer's causes on occasion. I promise
not be that guy you avoid because he is always asking for something but
I have learned that if you don't ask, people don't have the opportunity
to say yes.

North Updates:
It is now down to a few brave men still holding out hope on the north.
From Gabriel Filippi's team this report:

After 2 attempts to reach Camp 2, and fighting winds
of 80 km/h, the 3 Sherpas of the team turned around and went back to
advanced base camp (ABC), leaving Gabriel to open the trail for his two
climbing friends. He reached 7600m. Even in these intense conditions,
and besides major burns to his skin by the sun and the wind, Gabriel
stays optimistic. He is now at ABC and waits, once again, for a window
of good weather to try another summit push. There are only 8 men left
on the mountain: 2 Canadians, 1 Peruvian, 2 Tcheks, and 3 Sherpas. Out
of these, 3 climbers, including Gabriel, have confirmed a new attempt
as soon as possible. Some good forecast has been announced for the 1st
of june, and unless something else happens, Gabriel should be heading
back up on Tuesday. What great patience and perseverance!

A wrap-up letter from Ang Tshering
of Asian Trekking. Of note is Apa Sherpas' intent to lead more summit
climbs. He already has 19!

Dear Alan,

Namaste from Nepal.

The 2009 Spring Mountaineering season has been very eventful as well
as filled with tragedy and sorrow.

I am saddened to report that there were eleven fatalities on various
peaks this season. Among them was our Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa climbing with
Eco Everest Expedition 2009.

Please join me in praying for eternal peace for the departed and for
strength to the bereaved families.

My son, Dawa Steven, Leader of Eco Everest Expedition 2009 and his Team
Members returned to Kathmandu on 28 May - safe and in good health.

As you know Apa Sherpa, climbing leader of Eco Everest Expedition 2009
reached the summit of Mt. Everest for the 19th time - a new world record.
He joined Eco Everest for his 18th summit of Mt. Everest in 2008. Apa
said he is committed to support the efforts of Dawa Steven to bring awareness
to the world community about Climate Change and to help remove old garbage
from the slopes of Mt. Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) - our sacred mountain.

This year Apa Sherpa joined Eco Everest Expedition 2009 to carry a “wake
up call” to the world about the negative effects of Climate Change on
the Himalaya. He carried the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) banner with the
slogan “Stop Climate Change – Let the Himalayas Live” to the summit of
Mt. Everest to draw international attention to Global Warming and Climate
Change.

Eco Everest Expedition 2009 led by Dawa Steven brought down to base camp
6000 kilos of garbage for proper disposal. In addition wreckage parts
of the Italian Army helicopter were also recovered from the edge of the
Khumbu Icefall. The helicopter crashed at Camp 1 (6100m) on Mt. Everest
during the Italian Everest Expedition in 1973. This probably demonstrates
the movement of the Khumbu Icefall over the past 36 years.

Apa also installed a Bumpa (sacred vase) blessed by the Venerable Rinpoche
of Tengboche Monastery containing 400 different sacred ingredients. The
offering is to seek to reduce the negative impacts of environmental changes
and restore the sanctity of the Himalayan beyul (sacred valleys).

Before leaving for the USA, Apa Sherpa said he was committed to return
as Climbing Leader of Eco Everest Expedition every year to continue to
support efforts to deal with Climate Change.

The other summits achieved by members and sherpas on expeditions handled
by Asian Trekking in the Spring 2009 season are:

The Second International Everest Day Celebrations was observed on the
29th of May this year amidst various functions and felicitations to climbers.

We are busy preparing for the Autumn 2009 mountaineering season and finalizing
details for expeditions to Mt. Everest and other peaks.

The Imja Tsho Action Event 2009 is taking place in the Khumbu on 18 and
19 June 2009. The event, organized by the Sherwi Yondhen Tshokpa, a group
formed to create a network between all the Sherpa students, is supported
by iDEAS, an NGO set up by my son Dawa Steven. As part of the event,
the Beat the GLOF Action Run is being held on 18 June. It starts at IMJA
Lake, at the source of the biggest threat to the people of the Khumbu.
The run route follows the possible path of the Outburst Flood. The runners
will run on the paths and bridges that will one day be washed away.

Asian Trekking is sponsoring two nights (16/17 June) full camping services
at Imja Tsho Base Camp for the participants and volunteers.

On the following day, 19 June, the Khumbu Festival will take place in
Khumjung village. The theme of this Festival is to focus on the Mountain
Communities Culture, heritage, and their crucial role in maintaining
and protecting their mountain environment. This will be an occasion for
the communities to show their solidarity in taking action to tackle the
impacts of Climate Change. National and International experts will be
invited to share their studies with the communities, and together to
formulate plans of action that are realistic.

As part of this event students from schools in the Khumbu have participated
in Letter Writing and Art Competitions on the impact of climate change
on our mountains.

Please visit www.ideas-action.org for more details on this event and
other programs that Dawa Steven is initiating.

As always - please do not hesitate to let me know if there is any way
in which Asian Trekking and I can be of help.

North Updates:
Looks like the summit attempts on the north are winding down with this
report from the Serbian Extreme Summit team:

The expedition leader, Dragan Jacimovic called today.
All members safely returned to ABC yesterday. Dragan, on his way from
ABC down to BC faced strong wind and deep snow today. There in BC, he’ll
welcome other expedition members tomorrow. The decision to give up the
summit attempt has been brought. It was hard decision but lives are the
most important. Everest will remain where it is and will be waiting for
some other time. There is a lot of new snow and the wind maintaining
its speed of 80-90 km/h. In such conditions climbers would be exposed
to unacceptable risk. Dragan plans to produce a detailed report in days
to come. He will try to describe what was happening in the mountains
while not having contact with them and reasons for his decision to give
up.

Russianclimb.com translated a report from www.mountain.kz that the Lhotse-Everest
Traverse team was now down to base camp. They were the last team to pass
through the Icefall. In normal years, the Icefall Doctors maintain the
route through the end of May so they just made it. With the warm temps
this year, it was dangerous. I remember coming though it about his time
in prior years and seeing the seracs literally melting in front of me
and the normally hard snow, being a mushy surface.

Also the details of the death of world-class climber Serguey Samoilov
remain a mystery. This is their report:

Lhotse-Everest traverse. Two days ago one of the
strongest Kazakhstan climbers - Serguey Samoilov Serguey Samoilovreported
lost during Lhotse summit push. Max and Vassily had found Serguey's body
at 6800 near the sleeping bag. It's controversial, because first they
said that had found Serguey's body between C3 and C4 attached to the
fixed ropes and without injuries. Later they wrote about the body at
6800. It's unclear how did he die (guys saw him at 7500 the last time).
Probaby, Serguey was caught by the avalanche. We'll explane the detailes
as soon as the team return home.

Max, Vaso, Svetlana, Dmitry and Nickolay arrived in BC after dark yesterday,
at 8:00pm, local time. The climb down from Camp 1 had taken all day in
thick fog and deep snow. The climbers had to feel their way down in the
fog; trying to uncover old ropes buried in the fresh snow. This morning
the team started the trek back to Lukla. (www.mountain.kz)

As for the Serbian team and Gabriel Filippi, the last word was they
were at ABC on the north side evaluating their situation. Heavy snow
caused them to retreat from Camp 2.

On the south the majority of all clients have left base camp and almost
all are in Kathmandu flying home. However the late deep snows delayed
removing the group gear from as high as Camp 2 so many Sherpas are still
working to take the loads down. Remember the Sherpas ...

A consortium of teams have come together to continue the push on the
north. Courtesy of the Mad Frogs home team with special thanks to Genevieve
for these translated updates:

Gabriel and his team, along with 17 members of the
ex-Yugoslavia team, opened the trail yesterday by digging out the fixed
ropes under, in some places, one meter of snow. It was hard work where
Sherpas and climbers from the two teams were alternating up to 7350m,
half way to Camp 2. Sometimes, the winds went up to 70km/h.

Back at Camp 1, the Colombian team, and all members of the ex-Yugoslavia
team, decided to end their expediton because of the strenuous conditions.
Therefore, only Gabriel, his great cameraman friend, Richard (the Peruvian),
and their Sherpas, are left at Camp 1. They are hoping for good weather
to be able to proceed towards Camp 2 tomorrow. Gabriel assures us that
they are in good health.

Very sad news from the Lhotse/Everest Traverse team. This reported from mountain.kz: "May
27, During the last attempt of Lhotse summit, Sergey Samoilov was lost." My
condolences to all involved. They promise more details as they are available.

The deep snow has brought everything to a halt for the remaining teams
on the north: This update from the Mad Frogs home team:

Mad Frogs
Alex and Jean-Philippe left ABC on the 27th in the morning, and are
on their way to KTM and then home. The third Mad Frog Marc-André couldn’t
leave with them as he has some irritation making his walk very difficult,
especially with the late snowfall!

So Marc-André remained at ABC with Jorge from the Columbia Team.
The rest of Columbia Team is at Camp 1, unable to go either up or down,
stopped in their summit attempt by the snowstorm. I believe they will
all descend together, when the Yaks come back for transportation of the
equipment.

No words however on the other teams who were at Camp 1 when the snow
hit, a couple of days ago. (Gabriel Filippi and the Serbian Team)

Teams on the south report 3 feet of snow and some are staying at base
camp waiting for a break. The yaks are having problems getting to the
camps with the deep snow.

The storm has taken it's toll now on the Lhotse/Everest Traverse team.
They are all back in base camp and ended their attempt. This from russianclimb.com:

26, May 2009 Lhotse-Everest traverse. The expedition
is over. All descended to BC, because the weather's very bad, storm and
probably monsoon came to Everest. So, the team is going to Kathmandu
and try to be in time for their flight to Almaty May, 30. The head of
the expedition Baglan Zhunussov arrived to Almaty this night already.
He tried to climb Everest with the guide Serguey Lavrov and had understood
how difficult is +8000 climb. He also confirmed that team member Alexander
Sofrygin summited Lhotse May, 15 in very bad weather. So, it's not clear
now if he'll be able to confirm his climb for Elizabeth Hawley. We hope
he will and wait the detailes from Alexander as soon as he return home.

More news from the north. A huge storm moved in today and is apparently
creating havoc on both sides of Everest. The only team we know of on
the south is the Kazakh team working the Traverse. Last report had them
at the South Col. On the north, teams were looking at a window late this
week but that may have changed with this update from Alex of the Canadian
Mad Frogs:

Hi Alan,

another update from ABC on Everest North. The Mad frogs were planned
to go down Today, but a mega snow storm hit ABC and the North col last
night and is still going on with at least 1 meter of snow on the groung
right now. As I am stuck at ABC until the yaks open the trail, this is
what it going on now.

Yesterday, 3 teams went up the North col to start their summit push and
are now stuck at Camp 1 with a visibility of 2-3 meters:

1) Gabriel Filippi
2) The Columbian Team
3) The Serbian Team (Extreme Summit)

As far as we know, Gabriel's team is supposed to push to C2 Today, hopefully
to get above the snow clouds. At ABC, we hear the avalanches from the
col and surounding peaks every half hour, so it is very scary to move.

Looks like the season ended exactly at the right time with a huge rain
event headed right towards Everest. There could be some significant delays
with flights from Lukla to Kathmandu.:

Summary: Cyclone Aila made landfall today at about
2 pm Nepal time about 500 miles due south of Everest. Over the next 24
hours the storm will weaken and gradually move to the north towards Everest
and also to the east away from Everest. The bull’s-eye of the heavy rain
is just to the south and east of Everest where 10” inches of rain between
now and continuing into Tuesday is forecasted. For Everest during the
same period between 1 to 3 inches is forecasted.

The Lhotse-Everest Traverse team continues. I will continue to post
whatever hear:

Trio Maxut Zhumayev, Vassily Pivtsov and Serguey
Samoilov left BC two days ago and ascended to C3 yesterday. They're going
for the traverse. The second group - Svetlana Sharipova, Dmity Grekov
and Nickolay Gutnik - are going to Lhotse and ascended to C2 yesterday.

And just in today:

Arrived at Camp 4, there's no wind, it's overcast
with the visibility of about 200 m. The winds were high last night, and
today it's drizzling snow. We are sitting in the tent and drying our
down suits. The second group went back...

Alex with the Canadian Mad Frogs was kind enough to send me a compete
update on various teams who climbed from the north side this year - sadly
it includes a newly reported death and some details on another death.
I will just post it as he sent it to me and thank you Alex - safe travels
home.

... small update from ABC for Eastern Canadian teams.
The summit push for the mad frogs happened 3 days ago and I made it to
the second step (8600m) with my friend Frank Ziebarth, and decided to
turn around because of exhaustion. Frank decided to go on and the result
was unfortunatelly very sad for him. JP from my team made it to between
C1 and C2, and Mark could not go higher than 7000m because of disease.

For Manny Pizarro team, Manny made it to the top on the 21st while Andre
was forced to go down from ABC because of pulmonary edema.

For Gabriel Filippi's team, Luc Poirier made it to C2 while Gabriel and
Elia are still waiting at ABC for a good weather window. Actually, summit
push is still to come for these guys.

Me and my team are heading for beer now tomorrow.

On another sad note, while going up, we had to perform CPR on a Czeck
climber, M. Veslav Chrzaszcz. Our Czech frien died of a heart attack,
and his body, with benediction from his family, was disposed in a crevasse
at Camp 1. Our sincere condoleances go to his family and friends.

Also more details on the death of Frank:

On May 21st 2009, at the age of 29, Frank Ziebarth,
a German mountaineer living in Calgary, made it to the top of the world
from the Tibetan side without the use of supplemental oxygen. By doing
so, he became the first German, and also the first Canadian resident
to accomplish this Herculean task.

Very sadly, Frank could not make it back to High Camp, suffering from
hypothermia and obvious lack of oxygen. He was last seen at 8700 meters
still determined to go down on his own strength. It was later confirmed
by fellow climbers that his body now rest peacefully at the bottom of
the third step high on Mount Everest.

Frank was an accomplished 8000m climber who already made it to the top
of Shishapangma, Cho Oyu, and Lohtse without the use of oxygen.

His strength, smile, humility and care for others were an inspiration
for all his fellow climbers and revealed the true nature of a great mountaineer.
He was a born leader.

We, the team who shared his last trip to the highest point on earth,
would like to offer our sincere condolences to Christina his fiancée,
to his family in Germany and to all his friends all over the world.

Alexandre Paré, Manuel Pizarro and Anna Baranska on behalf of the whole
Everest North mountaineering community.

My sincere condolences to both the families and friends of Frank and
Veslav. There are now a total of 5 deaths on Everest this year, 3 climbers
(Chinese, German, Czech) on the north, 1 Sherpa on the South and 1 Nepali
Cook Boy at south base camp.

Correction: I noted the summit of Kay LeClair (age 60) as oldest American
woman to summit. It was actually Carol Jean Masheter, 611/2 who summited
last year. Congratulations to both women on their achievements.

Update:
Teams are making their way down to Camp 2 from their summit bids last
night. They are focused on getting back to base camp as the weather
warms and the Icefall becomes mushy. The weather is supposed to turn
bad starting tomorrow but is good today. No summits bids remaining
on the south to my knowledge but I could easily have missed a few going
for it tonight!

I have been remiss by missing that Kay LeClair became the second oldest
American woman after Carol Jean Masheter (611/2 who summited last year)
at age 60 to summit Everest. She was with AAI and it was her fourth attempt
in five years. She started climbing at age 50 - I love this story!!

If you would like to read how the summit is done by a regular guy who
is incredibly strong yet very humble please enjoy Yura Pritzker's report
as it the Dispatch
of the Day.

2009 Season recap up next.

Last Wave Recap

Quite a way to finish out the south side for 2009. Well at least I think
it is over! The last few teams were positioned at the South Col as the
winds picked up overnight. With flapping tents they debated whether to
go or not. If they did not go then they probably lost their chance for
2009 since a major system was forecasted to move in on Sunday.

So one by one, they all decided to go for it. - Alpine Ascents, Eco
Everest, The Austrian team of Walter Laserer's, a solo climber - Mike
Farris - and the last of the Eddie Bauer First Ascent team led by Dave
Hahn. Great audio dispatches from Hahn told of cold temps and increasing
winds as they swiftly climbed the route while the base camp team of AAI
kept us updated on their slow and steady progress. The rest remained
a mystery for most of the night.

But in the end, the Hahn team tagged the roof and return to the Col
in an fast 11 hours roundtrip time. AAI put almost all their team on
top except for 2 climbers plus, oddly enough, their 2 western guides.
The Sherpas are the foundation for most safe Everest summits. Lori Schneider,
the climber with MS, proudly stood on top of the world. Eco reported
3 climbers on the summit including 67 year-old Bill Burke. Mike Farris
summited but may have suffered frostbite when he had oxygen problems
then found himself alone on the return and missed a turn thus adding
to his return time.

*updated* A bit of a last minute surprise was the second Himex team
leaving the South Col at 2:00 AM on May 23rd. All of the second team
summited according to Lance Fox including Robbie Kojetin, reported summiting
at 9:40 and Bruce Parker at 10:00 AM. More details are expected on the
rest today.

There is talk on the north of staying for the next window around May
27- 29 but we will see. It is almost certain the Icefall Doctors on the
South will dismantle the Icefall once this last round of climbers return
to base camp and the Sherpas retrieve all the gear from the High Camps.

Ed Wardell with the Discovery Channel team does a great job of capturing
their summit day the the Dispatch
of the Day.

I will continue to report as well as post my annual recap of the entire
season.

Update #8:
It is official that Bill Burke summited - congratulations to Bill! Also
the second Himex team was scheduled to leave the South Col at a very
late 2:00AM looking to summit Saturday May 23rd. This was a bit of
a surprise. One of the climbers' site, Robby,
reports he summited at 9:40AM Saturday May 23rd Nepal time.

Update #7:
Congratulations to Alpine Ascents International for their summits tonight
including Lori Schneider. Asian Trekking with Bill Burke is close behind
making him the oldest American born climber to summit Mt. Everest at
age 67 and descend alive - nice job to all the climbers in difficult
conditions. They may be the last summiteers of 2009 on the south side.
More details tomorrow.

Update #6:
Looks like the weather has turned even more cold but the winds are still
manageable near the summit of Everest. A fresh report from Bill Burke's
home team with encouraging news:

.. they are at the hillary step. Bill is going to
be at the summit within the next hour. We are all waiting for that final
radio call to confirm it. The wind is pretty bad today but it got better
as the climb commenced. Bud turned back at the balcony with Pemba Tenjing
but told Puchhanga to head on up for the summit.

It seems that Bud had oxygen problems around 27,000' and is returning
to the South Col. Safe climb down Bud and we are pulling for you Bill!

Update #5:
First Ascent's Dave Hahn's team summited in tough conditions - the dispatch.
AAI is now beyond the South Summit, approaching the Hillary Step and
also reporting cold and windy conditions according to the last update
from Elli at their base camp and no updates on the other teams.

Update #4:
First Ascent's Dave Hahn's team is at the South Summit - only an hour
away from the true summit and notes the increasing winds in this audio dispatch.
He mentions 30-35 mph winds which is quite high. Historically teams
have turned back from at the South Summit in these conditions. The
Alpine Ascent team is still on the ridge between the Balcony and South
Summit. No word on the other teams.

Update #3:
Both First Ascent and AAI are doing a nice job of keeping us updated
tonight. Both report several teams have passed or are near the Balcony
and are climbing to the South Summit. At this pace climbers should
be at the summit around 6 -7 AM maybe earlier. The temps are very cold
but the winds are acceptable.

By my count there are around 40 or more climbers going for the summit
tonight so the crowds should not be a huge problem. Note the difference
in pace of the elite Dave Hahn team taking 2 hours to reach the balcony
and the more representative AAI team which took a little more than 5
hours. Pacing can be either motivating or discouraging so setting expectations
is critical to keeping a team on schedule.

In looking at some of the summit dispatches from climbers earlier this
week, it looks like they experienced some very cold temperatures as low
as -35F/C (about the same scale at that temp). So moving quickly and
not exposing bare skin are the best methods to avoid frostbite. This
means that climbers should not take the time to phone home - there is
plenty of time for that once they return to the South Col.

I do not have specific updates on the Asian Trekking Eco Everest team.

Update #2:
Great news from the Col - the winds are low enough that the teams have
left. Once again, the Eddie Bauer First Ascent expedition is leading
the way with real time updates. The latest has an audio
dispatch from Dave Hahn describing the conditions with an expected
departure for them at midnight. He reports that other teams have already
left for their bids.

Comment from Alan:
While we are waiting for the last big push of the season to develop,
I want to thank all the readers from around the world this season and
to all those who sent me emails with updates, corrections and comments.
This season's coverage was a true global team effort!

Also to remind everyone that the primary reason I do this is to raise
awareness and research money for Alzheimer's Disease. If you enjoyed
the coverage, please donate right
now while we wait for the next update. Also consider becoming a part
of Memories are Everything®: The 7 Summits journey. You an read more at this link.

Thanks everyone and Climb On!!

Update #1:
Looks like the winds are calming and teams are looking to leave the South
Col around 10:00 PM Nepal time.

There are two climbers that many people are following today: Lori Schneider,
who has MS and is climbing with AAI and Bill
Burke who at 67 is attempting to be oldest American to summit and
descend safely. I will try to post updates specifically on these climbers
but also visit their sites as well. Best of luck to them and all the
other climbers tonight.

Speaking of age, one of the guides for the 7 Summits team who summited
this week was Nickolay Cherny - he is 70!

Breaking news is that Dave Hahn's team has really pushed their schedule
and are going for the summit as well tonight if the winds allow. This
may be the last summit push of the season from Nepal.

Expect the next update in mid to late afternoon US Mountain Daylight
Time when they pass the Balcony or reach the South Summit.

Yesterday was a quiet day with only a few summits on both sides - I
say this tongue in cheek - all summits are important as are the efforts.
It is amazing when we view Everest summits in quantities of less than
50!

That said, the Singapore Women's team completed their expedition as
did IMG's. On the north, Adventure Peaks put 13 climbers on the roof
- great job by this patient team. So it was a good day for all involved.
Visit the teams web sites to see the details.

Today we finish up most of the teams for the south side with a big push
from Walter Laserer's 5 climber team to AAI's 15 person team as well
as the last group of Asian Trekking's Eco everest expedition.

However reports that the winds are quite high at the Col so Eco has
delayed their start and AAI are looking carefully at how to approach
their bid. A storm was forecasted to move in on Sunday so this may be
the leading edge. AAI mentioned that the window may be narrowing:

The guides have been discussing what time to start
out from the South Col tonight, and have arrived at the following plan.
They are trying to climb as much as possible in the warmth of daylight,
but at the same time trying to avoid winds that may pick up later in
the day.

There are probably more teams pushing from the north tonight.

Dave Hahn and team are one of the last still pushing for a last minute
summit on Saturday before the weather forecast turns ugly again starting
on Sunday. If Dave makes it he will have 11 summits under his belt -
the most of any non-Sherpa. Best of luck!

Update #5 :
Congratulations to the Singapore Women's team with two more summits tonight
- Joanne Soo and Lee Peh Gee

Update #4:IMG's Eric Simonson updates us on their team's 11 member's effort
tonight. This include the last two members of the Singapore Women's team,
Joanne Soo and Lee Peh Gee.

The Second summit team moved to the Col yesterday
and are doing well. They left for the summit about 9am the evening of
the 21st for the summit. Weather was good and they are now en route.
Climbing tonight are Joanne/Datenji, Pehgee/Dawa, Kamen/Pasang Ringing,
Petya/Nima Karma, Jon/Phinjo and Justin. Yesterday Matt summited with
Mingma Dorje (filming the Himex team) and is spending a second night
on the Col. Ed descended to Camp 2 yesterday after his filming stint
up high and will be back to BC today. So far everything is going according
to plan and we are keeping our fingers crossed on the weather!

Update #3:
Quiet day today on the south with a few summit attempts but most of the
climbers are resting at the South Col for their bids Friday. But there
is movement on the north.

Adventure Peak's home team said they are going for their summit as
we speak. With weather outlook still good, the team may have made a slightly
later start from Camp 3 so as to spend a little less time climbing in
the dark/cold, making expected summit time closer to dawn than 3 a.m.
One member of their team, Chris (age 65), had to turn back 2 days ago
at the North Col. This is the latest from1 their site:

The group have arrived safely at High Camp 8200m
and are currently resting in preparation for their summit attempts. We
will post an update as soon as we hear anything...normally around 03.00hrs,
but don't panic if northing appears, much depends on the sat phone working
and for our leader Paul to be in a position to use it. Good luck to all.

Also from the north that Canadian Manny Pizarro summited yesterday:

Manuel attained the summit last night around 10:15
pm !!!!! He communicated with his family and friends that had mustered
themselves to await his telephone call from the summit of the world!

Now widely reported, another historic summit occurred yesterday with
the rarely attempted route up the southwestern wall. A team led by Korean
Park Young-Seok successful summited via the SW Face after three previous
failed attempts since 1991. Mr. Park is another rare adventurer with
the true Grand Slam under his belt - both the North and South Poles plus
all 14 of the 8000m peaks. The route is considered the most dangerous
on Everest. Only two other teams, a U.K. and a former Soviet Union, had
climbed the route.

The last of the Eddie Bauer First Ascents team have accelerated their
plans and want to summit on the 23rd since it looks like the weather
is turning poor the next day.

Update #2:
Correction: Bill Burke and Bud Allen with Eco Everest are leaving Friday
night, not tonight as I previously posted. They are taking a rest day
at the Col similar to AAI.

Update #1:
The second Eco Everest team were scheduled to have left the are
at South Col by now (Thursday night Nepal time). Bud Allen's home team
reported in after a phone cal with Bud from the South Col:

He will call me from the summit, provided he can
convince his sat phone that he is in Nepal, not China. He told me that
some of the communication problems we have had are due to geographical
phone confusion.

An interesting nuance for climbers with Thuraya sat phones is if they
are using the less expensive (US$0.39 a minute) ECO SIM card, it will
not connect from the summit. The GPS system starts to thinks the phone
is in China somewhere above Camp 3 to the south col and the eco card
does not work in China but does in Nepal. To get around this, Thuraya
users can bring a second Super SIM card (US$0.84/min). So in this hi-tech
world of boarderless satellites, boundaries still exist. As a note the
Iridium system does not have this problem but the per minute charge is
US$0.99/min.

AAI has arrived at the South Col and will spend a complete day resting
before leaving for their summit bid Friday night Nepal time. I noticed
a nice touch by AAI for their teams members. While most climbers have
a quick bite of an energy bar or soup before heading up, AAI offers some
real food (thanks to the incredible Sherpas) according to today's update from
the Col:

But first things first, our team of sherpas are
doing an incredible job – hot drinks are flowing, soup is flowing, and
we’re having dal bhat for dinner. Everyone is relaxing on oxygen, which
is a very nice thing, allowing us to recover a little bit more. So tonight
we’re going to continue with more of the same.

Lori Schneider, who has MS, is one of the climber with Alpine Ascents
International. This will be her 7th of the seven summits.

Ed Viesturs planned on climbing without using supplemental oxygen but
changed his mind at the last minute. Watch this interesting video as
he explains why.

Early reports from the Himex teams shows that most of their members
last night safely made the summit. For a nice tease as it happened check
out Billi Bierling's site as reported by her friend Rich. It is the Dispatch
of the Day.

Over on the Tibet side, SummitClimb's second summit team of 6 is heading
for the top tonight after putting 10 climbers up there earlier this week.
They report a
difficult time for some of the team. The Mad Frogs's Alex is still going
and is looking at a summit bid as well.

The Lhotse-Everest traverse apparently continues as reported by RussianClimb.com:

Very strange info Maxut wrote yesterday for Mountain.kz:
in his story are the words "...It doesn't matter, who's summited
and what has he summited. We need only the team success. Somebody was
already looking at himself as on the winner..." No detailes, but
we know that guys had fixed ropes till about 8500 (as Maxut wrote in
another source) so they were very close to the top. Some of guys could
summit Lhotse that day. But no comments from the team, only the silence...

Looks like the monsoons are starting right on schedule. So the climbers
had excellent timing. This report was just posted:

A day like yesterday does not come along too often. Two historic figures
in their own right stood on top of the world. Not to take away from any
of the other summiteers, Apa Sherpa and Sir Ranulph Fiennes hold a special
attraction in their worlds of adventure and mountaineering. Congratulations
to both of these climbers.

And there were many more heroes last night with multiple summits from
Himex, Asian Trekking, 7 Summits, the Indian and Russian teams plus 2
more from the Croatian Women's team - in fact an estimated 50 more summits
but impossible to track at this point - maybe later when the official
notices are submitted to the Nepal Ministry.

Had enough yet? Well not if your friend or family is still headed up.
All the climbers are important and I will cover them until the ladders
are removed and the north side is cleared.

So the next and final big wave include Alpine Ascents (AAI), the rest
of the teams from IMG and Asian Trekking including my friends Bill Burke
and Bud Allen. You know the drill. They leave around 9:00 PM, make the
Balcony by 3:00 AM, South Summit next, then the Hillary Step and on to
the summit hopefully no later than 9:00Am and, of course, back down to
the South Col by mid afternoon.

Over on the north it is a different story. We have had little regular
communication throughout the year for unknown reason. The last several
dispatches mentioned teams headed to the summit and of successful summits
by Chinese, Japanese and a SummitClimb team. However there are several
more teams there. So at this point, I will pass on what I hear. Congratulations
to the summiteers and best of luck to the rest.

If you are wondering about activity on other Himalayan peaks including
Lhotse visit the Adventure
Blog for that and more adventure sports coverage.

Alzheimer's Startling Fact:
Alzheimer's can strike anyone, anytime with early onset effecting people
in their 40's. Learn more
and make a donation today.

Update #4:
Looks like Apa Sherpa continues to set records with his 19th summit tonight
leading the Eco Everest team. Congratulations to Apa and the entire
team. In their latest dispatch they commented on the crowds tonight
that made the pace very slow. We know that large teams from India,
Russia and Himex are all there - perhaps 100 climbers or more. Thankfully
the weather is holding.

Another notable summit is
from Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He is a legend in Briton. Well done Sir, well
done Please visit to read the
entire inspirational story:

In 2005, Sir Ranulph made his first attempt on the
mountain, from Tibet, as part of his bid to raise millions for charity,
but turned back 400m from the summit after fearing for his heart. It
was just two years after suffering the heart attack that left him in
a coma for three days. That attack happened on an aeroplane, moments
before take-off at Bristol Airport in 2003, and had it not been for the
immediate proximity of a defibrillator, he would almost certainly have
died.

A dispatch from
Himex climber Valerio Massimo's home team say he is at the south summit
making good time. I assume (dangerous) that most of the Himex team is
at the same place.

To get an insight into a guide's mind take the time to read Dave Hahn
very well written description of
working with his ambitious client. This is how a professional guide does
his job well. Well done to Erica - there are many climbs in your future.

Congratulations to all!

Update #3:
Another crowded night on Everest with teams clogging the route. As expected
no updates from Himex as they climb tonight - they usually wait.

Meanwhile Apa Sherpa's Eco Everest team has reported in
at the South Summit commenting that they are behind (and I assume) a
slower team. However it is a perfect night. Note that Bill Burke, attempting
to be the oldest American to summit and safely return is on the next
AT wave and is now at Camp 3. He is sending audio updates if
you want to hear what a climber sounds like at almost 8000m! As clarification,
the oldest American to summit Everest was Nils Antezana who was born
in Boliva but a US citizen. He summited in 2004 at age 69 but died on
the descent.

By the way, The youngest person to summit Everest was in 2003 was Miss
Ming kipa, a Sherpani, 15 years-old. She summited from the north since
you have to be 16 to summit in Nepal - this is to protect the kids. (this
is corrected from my original post today) Yesterday, American John
Collinson summited with Mountain Madness who is 17.

Courtesy of 8000ers.com this
table shows the youth movement on Everest:

No.

Climber

Nationality

Birth Date

Ascent

Age

1

Edmund Hillary

New Zealander

20 Jul 1919

29 May 1953

33 years, 313 days

2

Jürg Marmet

Swiss

14 Sep 1927

23 May 1956

28 years, 252 days

3

Hansrudolf von Gunten

Swiss

12 Dec 1928

24 May 1956

27 years, 164 days

4

Chu Yin-hua

Chinese

31 Mar 1935

25 May 1960

25 years, 55 days

5

Sonam Wangyal

Indian Ladakhi

8 Jan 1942

22 May 1965

23 years, 134 days

6

Shambu Tamang

Nepalese Tamang

*20 Oct 1955

5 May 1973

17 years, 197 days

7

Pema Chiring

Nepalese Sherpa

17 Dec 1983

22 May 2001

17 years, 156 days

8

Temba Tshiri

Nepalese Sherpa

6 May 1985

23 May 2001

16 years, 17 days

9

Mingkipa

Nepalese Sherpani

later 1987

22 May 2003

15 years, ??? days

The oldest was 76-year-old Bahadur Sherchan, from Nepal on May 26,
2008. However Japanese Yuichiro Miura (the man who skied down Everest)
has now been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the
oldest summitter at age 75 since Mr. Sherchan could not prove his birth
date. Tamae Watanabe also of Japan is the oldest woman to summit at age
63 on May 16, 2002.

And if this is not enough for you, this announcement just last week
that the 80 year old Former Foreign Minister of Nepal, Mr. Sailendra
Kumar Upadhyaya will attempt Everest next spring.

The Discovery Channel just posted some
raw footage of their summit from last night. Note that the wind is not
quite as calm as we thought. Crazy to say this but I wonder of they missed
the sunrise?

On a slightly disappointing note, Wendy Booker, who has MS, has decided
to halt her climb. Please read their
complete description. Our best to you Wendy and team - well done

Update #2:
A nice overview from guide Adrian Ballinger of the Himex about their
plans for tonight - they are leaving in about an hour from now:

The present plan is to leave Camp 4 at 11:30pm tonight
(that’s 10:45am PST) for their push to the summit. Although the last
two days have seen a significant number of people summiting, there are
still plenty of others who — like our team — plan to make their bid tonight.
Adrian has seen the team from Asian trekking, Henry Todd’s team, and
teams from Asia and Russia. His best guess is about 65 people, plus the
25 from our team. It’s going to be a busy time on the ropes. To increase
our margin of safety, each of our climbers will have 3 bottles of oxygen.
That’s enough for 24 hours, so if a log-jam occurs somewhere they can
wait it out without difficulty.

Adventure Peaks reports moving up to Camp 2 on the north with a target
summit on May 22nd.

Jagged Globe does a nice update on their summit night describing what
happens if you climb too fast and risk missing the sunrise! A nice read.

Update #1:
Teams are reported moving up and down the Lhotse Face today as yesterday's
summit teams return to Camp 2 and Camp 3 climbers move to the Col for
their summit bids. Apa Sherpa leading the Asian Trekking Eco Everest
team will be making his 19th summit. The weather is still holding with
summit attempts currently planned through May 24th by several teams.

Another great day for Everest climbers on both sides. With perfect weather
team after team accomplished their goal of summiting and returning safely
to a High Camp. IMG's local Astronaut, Scott Parazynski stole the show
with a swift climb to the summit well before sunrise and the strong Fins
made their goal with little local support. Also of note was Dawes Eddy
who at age 66 became the oldest American to summit Mt. Everest. He was
with IMG. There was also success on the north side with SummitClimb putting
4 clients and 4 Sherpas on top. There were probably more summits that
will be reported today from last night.

Today brings the next huge wave of climbers on the Nepal side with Asian
Trekking and Himex leading the way. Both teams are moving to the South
Col.

However AAI with 15 climbers plus Sherpas will take a planned rest day
on the South Col on Friday (they are at C3 today, May 20th) - one of
the few teams that does this by design - and start their summit push
that night will top out on early Saturday May 23nd. In fact, I enjoyed
reading their recent dispatch describing their program for the summit
push. It is the Dispatch
of the Day

According to Himex guide Adrian Ballinger, their team of 11 plus Sherpas
will take the traditional schedule of climbing to the Col from Camp 3
then make their summit bid that night - hoping to summit on May 21st.

Update #7:
More summits on the early morning hours of May 20. First the Finnish
rangers put four of the team on top without support in the usual style
Everest is climbed these days - well done to the strong guys! Over
on the north we have a confirmed report from SummitClimb of 8 summits
split evenly with the Sherpa team. They reported perfect conditions
on that side of the mountain.

I want to correct my prediction that updates would be sparse today
- they were fantastic and thanks for letting us come along. So all in
all another good day with over 40 summits today but the final count will
take some time. Congratulations to all!

Update #6:
Another busy night! IMG just reported on summits including the Singapore
Women's team and a great story of Dawes Eddy who at 67 may be the oldest
American to summit Everest. But look out for Bill Burke who is slightly
older and making his summit bid tomorrow with with Asian Trekking.
But you know, it doesn't really matter who is older - wonderful job
Dawes. Take a look at his site to
see how he trains - it will get you away from the computer!

Update #5:
Scott Parazynski became the first person to fly in space and summit Everest
at 4:00 AM Nepal time. He and Sherpa Danura made the summit climb in
about 8 hours - an exceptional time. Congratulations to both of these
climbers. Read the compelte update on Orbit.com

Climbers are reported to be making good time and are many are already
past the Balcony. The Finnish Ranger Club reports the night is clear
and the winds are low as they pass the Balcony. Most teams who summited
last night should be back at Camp 2 now.

Update #4:
Teams are well on their way to the summit right now. After getting overloaded,
Scott Parazynski's SPOT tracking site is back up. This is an alternate link.
His site reported he left Camp 4 at 8:26 pm Nepal time and the rest
of the IMG team around the same time. The teams climbing tonight are
not as active with their websites as the ones last night that did a
great job especially Peak Freaks, First Ascent and Adventure Consultants
so tonight's updates will be more sparse. IMG seems to be the most
active at posting right now and remember they have the Discovery Channel
cameras along that are sending real-time info via microwave to base
camp - very high tech! Weather looks good.

A rather cryptic update from Russian Mountaineering on the Lhotse -
Everest traverse:

The team had fixed 600 m of ropes above 7900 (the
work of 1-st and 2nd groups) and lifted 250 m of ropes, put them and
other gear in the deposit at 8350. The team wrote about very strong wind
near the summit and temperature -40C. Now the team rest in BC and hope
for the next push... But probably, they had some more reasons to turn
back... But we read only official news. (www.mountain.kz) But probably
(it looks like), they also had some more reasons to turn back... We read
only official news.

Update #3:
Congratulations to the Croatian Women team of sisters Darija and Iris
Bostjancic. They became the first non-Sherpa sisters in history that
summited together and first women to summit this year. Three Sherpas
were also there - Lakhpa, Pemba and Nawang.

Update #2:As we saw last night by following Gavin Bate's GPS tracker made
by Yellowbrick,
Gavin had some problems. It showed him
descending when we thought he would be climbing higher - and it was accurate.
Well there is another opportunity watch this technology in action tonight
with Scott Parazynski's summit bid. He is using a similar device - SPOT.
You can follow his progress -
click on the terrain button to see his last reported position was at
Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face.

Update #1:Gavin Bates has called in from Camp 2 with this report from
his home team in Ireland:

Gavin reports that he was going good but in very
cold weather, not windy but extreme cold, his mask started freezing up.
This reduced if not fully stopped his oxygen intake and quickly brought
on the same symptoms of HAPE as he experienced last time in 2007.

This is excellent news. Please read the entire update as
well as Gavin's request to his followers.

Monday May 19th was a rewarding day on Everest. More than an estimated
80 climbers summited on a clear, calm day after waiting out high winds,
some at the Col. Over on the north, we have reports of summits by both
a Japanese and a Chinese team, Sadly one amateur Chinese climber died.

All of the the summit teams should be back at the South Col. It usually
takes between 6 to 8 hours to return from the summit, however note that
the elite First Ascent team did it about 4. Their climb was quite impressive,
nothing short of Sherpa speed with Ed Viesturs (no Os). They left the
South Col at 11:00 PM, summited at 8 and were back at the Col at 1. Just
a normal work day for these guys.

Of concern is climber Gavin Bate who has not reported into his home
team since the he left the South Col. He is using a GPS tracking device
that sends his location as they note:

At present the support team back in Ireland are
not quite sure of events on the mountain. The tracker is showing a descent
presently from camp three to camp two. It could be that the team had
to turn around for some reason or it could be that one or two of them
had to descend and are carrying the tracker unit which is not with Gavin
but in one of the Sherpa’s packs.

There are hundreds of possible scenarios but nothing at present can be
confirmed until we hear from Gavin. Due to his lack of contact we can
only assume that he is either higher up and queuing to summit without
the tracker or on his way down and the phone battery has died with the
cold weather. Obviously laptop and hence twitter updates cannot operate
without the sat phone link up.

I will pass on updates as I get them on Gavin.

Today will be another busy day on the Nepal side with several large
teams going for the summit including IMG. Himex and AAI are one day behind
this wave. I expect a big push on the north but communications is limited
from that side. The weather is holding so it should be another good day.

Sincere congratulations to all the climbers and safe climbing to those
going up.

Update #6
More summits are now reported by the Eddie Bauer First Ascent team aka
Ed Viesturs; Adventure Consultants at 7:30 AM and more. A special shout
out to my friend Ang Dorge Sherpa for his 13th summit. At this point
I would estimate another 30 people to summit with 60 already there,
including Sherpas. These crowds were anticipated so dual ropes were
put up including 3 at the notorious bottle neck, the Hillary Step.

It looks like the weather is holding, cold, but the winds are low.
At this point there is a continuous line of climbers going to the summit
and back down. This mobius strip from the South Summit will continue
until all are back to the south col in the late afternoon of May 19th
... then wave 2 will begin.

We were expecting the world's highest Twitter from Gavin Bate for his
charity, Moving Mountains, but that has not occurred as of this posting.
His GPS shows
his track.

If Sir Ed was alive, he would be in shock at all of us following climbers
by GPS, Twitter, Facebook and websites However, I think it is great -
after all mountains are for everyone but not everyone can climb them.
These technologies provide the opportunity for all of us to share in
the summit experience - albeit in the comfort of our homes.

Congratulations to all and climb safe on the return.

Update #5
First summits reported from Jagged Globe and Willie Benegas at 7:05 AM.
Report from their BC:

Doug, Bill, Nick and Willie have summited Mt Everest.
The first summits of the c100 people who have left the South Col tonight.
Congratulations guys!

Update #4
Climbers are at the south summit at 6:00AM local time which means they
should be on the summit by 8:00AM. Expect to hear of a few summits
before then from the faster climbers. It takes about 8 hours to return
to the South Col normally.

Update #3
Many teams are now passed the Balcony where they get new oxygen bottles.
Making good time - under 6 hours from South Col. Next up is climbing
the Southeast ridge. Reports are that the route is very crowded. Weather
still clear and calm.

Update #2
Japanese team summits from north - link to
their site translated from Japanese. Tim Rippel returned to South Col
with numb toes (via Twitter). Could be very cold tonight -10F but calm
winds at least. Viesturs/Whittaker left at 11:00PM - everybody 3-4 hours
earlier! Listen to the checking in at the First
Ascent site, which is fantastic by the way.

Update #1 Summit
Bids are now underway. Ten teams are reported leaving base camp for the
summit. Estimates say over 100 climbers are on the route now. The winds
at the Col are manageable right now.

The fixed line towards the Balcony was cleaned yesterday by a team
of Sherpas - it was encrusted in snow and ice by the recent snows and
lack of use over the past two weeks.

Pictures of the Triangular Face show little snow on the route from the
South Col to the Balcony. Picture courtesy of Adventure
Consultants who are providing good regular updates right now as are Peak
Freaks.

Multiple teams are at the South Col today thwarted by high winds on
Sunday however they are planning on summit bids tonight (now in Nepal
time). Today is difficult day for those waiting due to the harsh conditions
up there. More teams continued their journey to the Col with Adventure
Consultants confirming there were no summits last night and their climb
today from Camp 3 was a bit breezy:

The wind during the night of the 17th / 18th were
stronger than predicted. This had two consequences: we had a windier
than expected night in Camp Three, and no-one climbed to the summit.

Just glancing at the location table above shows a lot of people at the
Col who are planning to go for the summit tonight - assuming the winds
let up. Reports have the summit winds between 23 and 45 mph with a temperature
of -11F. So the conditions are right on the safety edge for a summit
tonight.

Meanwhile the remaining teams are moving from base camp to Camp 2 in
preparation for summit attempts later this week. IF the winds die down
it should be several days of summits throughout this week.

Up at the Col, all the climbers and Sherpas are resting on a low flow
of oxygen, perhaps .5 a liter per minute. even though the still air temperature
is around 0F (-17C) they are warm inside their tents especially during
the day. Most teams assume they spend only a few hours in the tents so
they put up to four people in a 3 person tent. While this may seem uncomfortable,
and it is to some degree, it is also much warmer.

A team member or Sherpa usually keeps an almost continuous flow of water
so everyone can rehydrate after their climb from Camp 3. This is probably
the most critical job at the South Col. Food is sparse, maybe some ramen
noodles, energy bars and soup. Nothing fancy since the body almost refuses
to digest anything.

So you can paint a picture in your mind: 4 people, all dressed in their
down suits, sitting or lying on their -20F down sleeping bags, oxygen
masks covering their nose and mouth, surrounded by oxygen bottles, boots
and cups and bowls - packs, crampons and ice axes fastened down outside
the tent.

The tent door is cracked to get access to the melting snow. They hear
the steady hum of the propane stoves and an occasional strong gust of
wind causes everyone to come out of their stupor - they are living at
8000m on the South Col of Mt. Everest.

Once again, no news from the north other than teams are at ABC also
looking for a clear summit window.

Random Notes:
There are at least two climbers not using supplemental oxygen from the
south this year: Ed Viesturs and Croation female climber Darija Bostjancic.

Update: High winds and clouds overtook the South Col as the
climbers were ready to go for the summit in the early evening hours
of Sunday, May 17. To my knowledge, no teams went for the summit tonight
but some may have. Most will try again Monday night after spending
Monday resting at the Col.

Everest 2009 Weekend
Update, May 17

A good week on Everest. All the teams returned from their R&R down
valley with lungs full of oxygen, stomachs full of food and in some cases,
lower intestinal tracts infected with ... well anyway, most returned
healthy, eager and ready for their summit bid.

The weather continued to play games with climbers and forecasters. A
snow storm caught a few teams off guard at the upper camps early in the
week but everyone was fine. In fact the upper mountain was almost deserted
with so many teams still down valley.

A few brave climbers took their shot targeting a very narrow window
of low summit winds but the mountain had the last word as they climbed
quickly to the South Col only to see dangerously winds higher. Wisely,
they turned back.

But as the skies became a clear blue over base camp, plans were hatched
for a summit bid on May 18. As the word spread, so did the window with
teams looking from the 18th through the 21st to summit. This meant they
needed to leave base camp four days before their target and that they
did.

The congo line developed on the Lhotse Face with Adventure Consultants
spotting 30+ climbers snaking their way to Camp 3 on Saturday. Peak Freaks
reported few climbers but a "ton of Sherpas" headed to the
South Col with oxygen bottles on Friday.

And more good news. Over on the north side, Adventure Peaks noted a
summit attempt for the Japanese and Chinese teams over the weekend. No
word on their results yet.

So the first huge wave of climbers are at the South Col or starting
their summit bids this Sunday (right now) evening, Nepal time. There
is a chance that no one will leave the Col since the weather forecast
continues to show higher than desired winds for tonight. The First Ascents
video mentioned winds in excess of 30 mph which is quite high.

I estimate that there are well over 150 climbers for this first wave
occurring over the next several days. And many more are in the queue
at base camp awaiting the next window. Plans have already been made to
dig out the ropes from recent snows so the first teams will have a slow
go of it. But once the winds die down and the route is cleaned up - look
for several days of huge summit numbers this week.

The next big wave looks like for the end of this week. Himex had a large
team of 14 leave base camp looking to summit on the 21st and other teams
are looking at May 23rd. This might include AAI as well as MS climber
Windy Booker. But once again, a week is a lifetime for Everest weather.

My personal wish for safety and success to all teams on both sides.
Climb On!

An Update on the 7 Summits from Alan
I mentioned on April 19th the Memories are Everything®: The 7 Summits project to raise $1 million for Alzheimer's
research, education and support. The project is coming along nicely.
We are planning the climbs starting with Aconcagua in February 2010 ending
with Denali in July 2011. Of course, Everest is one of the 7 and we will
climb it two years from now in 2011. We are discussing the project with
several professional guide companies who are excited the project.

Contact me about opportunities
to participate. We are looking for corporate partners as well as qualified
climbers to join the fund raising and expeditions. We have added a safari
option to the Kili climb in 2010 and a trek to Everest Base Camp in 2011.
The project's priorities are fund raising, safety, summits and fun!

Multiple teams are at the South Col today, Sunday May 17th and could
summit early May 18th, Monday morning. Winds are still reported in excess
of 50 mph on the summit making conditions less than ideal so we will
have to wait for reports directly from the teams.

Update:Peak Freaks' home team of Becky Rippel reported early Sunday
morning that in fact there are high winds at the Col and Tim Rippel and
team are holding tight for the moment. Also that there are 60 climbers
in queue for the summit bid. Read their compete report including
an update on 68 year-old Bernd Wittman.

Adventure Consultants reported from Camp 2 that about 30 climbers were
headed up the Lhotse Face towards Camp 3. This would put those climbers
at the South Col tomorrow and leaving for the summit Sunday night and
making the top on early Monday, May 18th. Some estimates double that
for the climbers headed up tomorrow night.

The South Col is one of the most unique places humans visit on this
planet. As popularized in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, as the
beginning of the Death Zone it is a difficult place for a few reasons:
you can't breath, you can't eat and it is not the ultimate goal but only
a stop along the way.

The standard summit program has climbers leaving from Camp 3 early in
the morning and arriving early afternoon at the Col. You spend a few
hours eating and drinking whatever you can get down, try to get a few
hours of sleep and leave around 9:00 PM for the summit. If the weather
window forecast was accurate, it is an incredible, almost surreal environment
with perfectly pure air and crystal clear skies that in spite of the
sub zero temperatures, causes any climber to take pause to let it sink
in - they are higher than all but a few places on the planet.

Some teams take a slightly different tact by spending a full day at
the Col and leave for the summit the next day. Common wisdom says you
cannot survive for long at the Col but this has been shown to be a reasonable
strategy - you get a full night and day's rest - as difficult as it is
- and leave as hydrated and energized as is possible. It can be done,
I spent 3 nights at the Col one year.

Once again, there is not right or wrong in these matters just variations
on a theme.

Even with good weather in the forecast, teams are taking it all in and
are prepared for delays. Canadian Tim Rippel leading the Peak Freaks
team is prepared to spend an extra day at the Col:

Our plan is to stay here 2-nights at Camp 2, tomorrow
(May 17) to Camp 3, next day (May 17) to the South Col and leave 21:00hrs
(Nepal Time) for the summit, arriving sometime in the morning of the
18th. Strong wind is expected in the afternoon of May 16 and possibly
the 17th. I think we can weather it okay and be in position for the 18th.
We have ample oxygen and provisions at the South Col to hold up and sip
oxygen for another night if need be.

Over the past couple of days, the snows have returned causing the Singapore
Women's' team to delay one day but now reports team 1 left their base
camp yesterday and their second team will depart a few days later:

The last couple of days saw the entire Khumbu region,
including surrounding towns like Pangboche and Pheriche experience high
precipitation and winds. Even though this is not entirely weather to
celebrate about, we remain hopeful here at Base Camp - because every
inch of snow is an indication of the jet streams passing over us and
the coming of good weather.

Over on the north, we could see summits today or Sunday. According to
SummitClimb, the Chinese and Japanese groups are at 8300 meters or the
highest camp on Friday. Obviously this implies the route is fixed or
will be with their effort.

Adventure Peaks keeps us updated with a target summit date of May 21st:

Summit fever has arrived at Base Camp. After a few
days of poor weather with snow and high winds the forecasts are now indicating
the weather window the team have been waiting for. The current plan is
to leave Base Camp tomorrow and take two leisurely days to reach ABC
conserving their strength for the challenge ahead. If everything is still
looking good then they are hoping to summit on the 21st May.

As if being crammed in a tent with one smelly mate wasn't enough, the
Fins, missing their sauna, set a record with seven smelly climbers in
a three person tent. Why? I can't explain but they try in the Dispatch
of the Day.

Random Notes:
Our oldest climbers this year, Bill Burke at 67 with Asian Trekking;
Dawes Eddy, 66 with IMG and Bernd Wittman, 68, Peak Freaks are all
doing well and should attempt the summit. On the other end, the Brat
Pack, the 17 year-olds Erica Dohring with Dave Hahn and Johnny Strange
with Scott Woolums are also moving nicely. Well done to all these climbers!

Site Note: If you love climbing and mountaineering like me, this site is
full of information. Use the menu in the upper left corner of each page
to navigate to more Everest coverage, trip reports for my climbs on Denali,
Rainier, Aconcagua and many more plus pictures, climbing gear, guides
- there is a bunch of stuff here :)

While teams make their way towards the South Col, one of the key weather
variables they monitor is the wind speed on the summit. In general most
teams will not attempt a summit if the winds are over 20 mph and they
prefer less than 15. High winds combined with -20F air temperatures creates
an almost guaranteed risk of frostbite.

Tim Rippel of Canada's Peak Freaks noted from Camp 2 yesterday that
:

... There are just a few of us here who made the
move up to C2 today and a ton!!!!! of Sherpas. I even saw some climbers
going from Camp 3 to the South Col which means they are positioning themselves
for a possible summit bid tonight.

Our plan is still the same that we set about a week and a half ago. We
bumped it back by one day to go for the 18th summit window. There are
high winds expected on the afternoon of the 16th so we didn't want to
be on the South Col then, instead we have positioned ourselves to hunker
down at Camp 3 during that time and move the next day. We are still pretty
much on track as we said 16th or 17th, it will be the night of the 17th
and hopefully on top the morning of the 18th. It will be a colder ascent
than last year at this time and more wind but we are up for it.

I am not sure which team Tim saw climbing towards the South Col, there
are many possibilities. Could have been the Lhotse-Everest traverse team.

Everest is truly an international place with many, many countries represented
each year. The Croatian Women's team has been mentioned in several dispatches
this season as to how strong they are. Roman, a reader, sent me this
email today:

I just want to inform you that 1st summit team is
on the way to the top. Sisters Darija and Iris Bostjancic and dr. Lana
Donlagic are ahead towards Camp 2. Darija will try summit without supplemental
O2 if wheather conditions will be fine. Second team made of 3 members
will follow tomorrow or day after.

Best of luck Ladies, safe climbing.

Most of the teams that left yesterday are now at Camp 2 taking a rest
day. Saturday will be a big day moving up to Camp 3. And Monday night
into Tuesday dawn still looks like a reasonable summit night - and it
seems to be getting more crowded.

Adventure Consultants has joined this summit push by taking a controlled
climb up with an overnight stop at Camp 1. They are looking at the 19th
or 20th as good days. Scott Woolums, guiding the Strange Father/Son team,
is targeting a summit for 21/21 or Wednesday/Thursday so there may be
a several consecutive days of summits if the weather holds.

AAI and Himex as well as 7 Summits Club are holding their departure
dates close to their chest but it will probably be in a few days and
not targeted for this next summit window.

Most climbers are reviewing their gear, discussing oxygen plans or just
resting. Billi Bierling is doing all this but also thinking but the necessaries
- yes the pee bottle. The question I am often asked during school presentations
is "How do you do that?" And with that, she gets the Dispatch
of the Day

No solid information from the north teams today but expect them to be
watching carefully for the ropes to be fixed to the summit. I would expect
them to make summit bids over the next week.

In a mad rush, they are off to the summit. While patience is the word
of the day for most teams on both sides of Everest, on the south there
is a dash to get in position for a May 18th summit window. The Ed Viesturs
- First Ascents team is off for a summit push plus members from Peak
Freaks, IMG, Singapore Women, Summit Climb and Altitude Junkies. Also
the Lhotse Everest Traverse team is already on their way to the summit
of Lhotse this morning.

Gavin Bate sent me an email this morning saying in part:

We will go up tomorrow and look for summiting on
the 19th. So far it looks like a possible 60 people for that day - Damien
and Willie are both planning for it, some of the Croatian team, an IMG
group I think, and several others. If the forecast is right then it will
be a busy day on top and it will be the usual play off of safety in numbers
against traffic jams and queues. I'm happy that climbing with Willie
and Damien, we'll all work out a good system for keeping things flowing.

So the mood is very positive up here right now and certainly in my camp,
now that we don't have a death hanging over the team, things are cool.

But not everyone is in a hurry. Some are quite content top let the "early
adopters" lead the way and follow in their steps when a longer window
appears. On the Tibet side, if you read French, the Canadian Mad Frogs'
blog tell of their trip to the North Col but now are back to base camp
due to weather and waiting for the ropes to be fixed by the CTMA to the
summit. On the south the seasoned commercial teams of AAI, Himex and
Adventure Consultants are quite content to lay low for a few more days.

Lori Schneider (who has quite a following I might add!) is one of two
climbers with MS checked in today with this email:

Hi Alan, I have not had access to this account in
a month, so just received your email. All is well here and we are down
valley, waiting for the weather on Everest to clear. I am feeling strong,
acclimitized and ready to rock. We've already been to camp three and
all went well. Three of our team members had to leave due to illness,
but the rest are excited to get underway. Hope all is well in your world.
Mine is perfect! More when I can. Let the fun begin! Live your dreams.
Lori

A common question is how long does acclimitization last. Some of the
climbers spent a night above 7000m almost 14 days ago and are now living
at 5000m. This is a difference of over 5000 feet - a mile. Every person
is different in how the body reacts to altitude but some studies of high
performance athletes show that the increased red blood cells from going
to high altitude can last for 4 weeks or longer upon returning to sea
level. This matches my personal experience. So the climbers should maintain
their benefits throughout May living at base camp. However, as they say,
results may vary. For anyone wanting more information on altitude training,
an excellent book is Performing
in Extreme Environments by Lawrence Armstrong.

While some speak of a summit bid, others are dealing with different
issues.

Christophe Vandaele posts an incredibly emotional post yesterday about
his very difficult decision to stop his expedition. It is a must read
for anyone considering climbing Everest and for anyone who thinks climbing
mountains is all about bragging rights. Well done Christophe, well done
and safe travels home. This a part of the Dispatch
of the Day:

I've learned so much, in climbing, life, myself
and the limits of nature. If the summit was the goal, yes I didn't make
it. But im proud for giving it everything i had, I found strength in
places I never thought possible, not once but 3 times. The personal knowledge
and awareness i received from that is priceless. Acclimatization was
the one thing I couldn't controll and it did me in, - it really is genetic.
Like my climbing buddy Gregory says: "The mountain can be so cruel,
all is well one minute and then the next all hope is lost."

So it looks like the mountain in starting to get busy and teams are
looking to summit anywhere from May 18 through the following few days.
In general it takes 4 days to get to the summit from base camp and another
two to return. Hang on the excitement continues to build!

Random Notes:
It seems that everyone is Twittering these days. Follow these tweets
to read the latest in 140 characters or less: @FirstAscent @gavinbate
@SPOTScott @timrippel

During the summit push there will be multiple updates on some days so
check back to track the progress.

Wind and Snow,Waiting
and Watching, Teamwork and Survival plus THE Summit Report

This week started slow with most teams either down valley, in base camp
and a few stuck at Camp 2. A storm moved in on Monday that caused everyone
to hunker down for a couple of days.

It is interesting to read how the climbers view their current situation.
I appreciate them taking the time and energy to send us their thoughts
when it is much easier to just relax and not fool with sat phones and
computers. Here are three views from three places over the past day or
two:

Dave Hahn at Camp 2:

This was a great day for staying put. That said,
it sounded like everything outside our little tents was moving around.
The forecast called for snow and wind - the reality was exactly that.
I was wide-awake at 5:40 a.m., listening to what sounded like a 20-minute
train derailment: an avalanche pouring off Everest’s Southwest face.
Several times I zipped down the tent door, only to see that we were still
in the milky midst of the turbulent powder cloud thrown off by the slide.
I knew the actual debris couldn’t possibly hit ABC - but it was a reminder
to me that it wouldn’t be a day for wandering around.

Scott Parazynski takes note from down valley:

A thick wet snow is falling here in Pheriche on
Day 52 of the expedition, and uncertainty exists as to when we can easily
return to EBC, when the weather might lift to allow teams to recommence
their summit bids, and when we might get our chance… Snow up high means
fixed lines will likely be covered, as will have our bootprints from
multiple prior forays up the route. All 20+ climbing teams will be poised
to go at the first hint of promising weather, which might result in crowding
and bottlenecks. Meanwhile, the end of May and the approach of the monsoon
season is less than 3 weeks away.

Uncertainty exists, but we’ll eventually prevail…

Valerio Massimo tells his view from base camp:

Base Camp is getting restless. After the highs of
the trip up the Lhotse Face, now we are stuck waiting. Five of the team
have now left the expedition, the last this morning due to an inability
to acclimatise to the higher altitudes after persevering with a last
attempt to reach Camp 3. Those that remain will make up the eventual
summit teams, but for some the waiting around is proving hard, particularly
for those who have not been on a 8,000 meter peak expedition before –
all this forced inactivity is new to them. Spirits are generally good,
the team strong and in the main recovered from illness, and people are
still getting on – which is quite an achievement given we have all been
thrown together to live at very close quarters, in less than perfectly
comfortable circumstances, in what is undoubtedly a high stress environment,
for almost seven weeks. There have been no arguments or politics which
are common on other expeditions of this size, so we are lucky.

For some climbers, the harsh realities of climbing Everest took their
toll. There is honor is all these cases. Climbing Everest is not "simple".
Verne Tejas leading the AAI expedition shared some updates on his team's
tough experience to Camp 3.

The team is now back together again. We are one
big happy family, yet somewhat smaller. Our push up to camp three was
really tough on Blue team members. None of us slept well in our 23,000
foot tent city, but Alex didn’t sleep at all. In the morning he was hurting
so we helped him out by carrying his equipment for him as we descended
to CII. Yet even with our help he moved slower as time went by. Our concern
led us to seek medical help from the wonderful doctors at the Himalayan
Rescue Association. They looked Alex over and told us he had to fly out
as soon as possible because he had acute pulmonary edema. To complicate
matters, while we were descending in the wind from Camp three, team member
Kurt did not notice how cold his hands were. By the time we got to CII
he had frostbitten his hands. The doctors said he would need to leave
the mountain as well to heal safely. So, both were medivaced off the
mountain by chopper. With them a big chunk of our team spirit left too.

In those same two days, Kathy had an I. T. band flare up in her right
leg. It became excruciating for her to climb. We had to decide what was
best for her and the team’s safety. Ultimately she was able to down climb
to CII and Base camp under her own power but was not able to reach CIII.
Without CIII acclimatization under her belt she is not able to attempt
the summit. She has been a delightful team member so her departure stunned
us all the more. We miss you guys immensely and are sadden by your departure.
May your travels home be safe and relatively easy. Please get well soon.

There is a quiet murmur amongst the climbers that this could be another
2005 where the weather was so bad during May that some teams never tried
to summit. However, in late May, a window appeared. This is what I said
in my 2005 recap:

Quite a season! The summits on May 21 was the latest first summit
day in 45 years of climbing Mt. Everest. Norgay and Hillary did it on
May 29, the earliest was April 4 in 1984. But it was still a good year
for summits with over 230 climbers standing on the top of the world.
To put this in context, around 150 made the summit in 2004 with the first
summits on May 15.

those were the days! "Only" 230 summits!! Of course we already
had the first 2009 summit on May 5 but nothing since then.

Against all this waiting, boredom and wondering, a good ending came
out of a potentially and still unfolding story. You may recall that a
cook boy died from alcohol poising from an illegal batch of moonshine.
Another cook was also stricken. I encourage you to read, in it's entirety,
Gavin Bate's summary of the entire situation. Not only does it show how
strong the human body can be but also the incredible work and cooperation
of all the people at base camp. My best wishes to all around this situation.
Please read his dispatch.

Over on the north, it is a similar situation with weather delays. Adventure
Peaks reports in:

Well phase 2 of our trip is over. The team were
given a good beasting back up to ABC but snow and winds couldn't stop
them! After a rest day and a Surrendra dalbhat we were off to N. Col.
We stayed for 2 nights at North Col and visited as high as possible,
mostly in the 7300 mts to 7500 mts band. It was cold and windy, perfect
for down suits and a gear sort out. The weather has been a bit rough
over the last few days, sunny starts followed by a windy and snowy afternoon
seems to be the pattern.

Currently the ropes are fixed to 8300 metres with little chance of going
further in the current conditions. Our Sherpas are waiting to set up
our camp at 8300 metres and have cancelled going up 3 days in a row because
of the weather. Sherpas have done good with the N. Col camp, unlike some
groups our tents are still in place, I noticed some teams tents parked
in a very deep crevasse due to the wind. There are a lot of people heading
up today so I'm guessing it'll be for finishing the ropes.

And fianlly one of the most eloquent summit day trip reports you will
ever read, Britain David Tait describes in amazing detail his opportunity
to be the first westerner to summit in 2009. As you know he followed
the Sherpa rope team to the summit almost by accident .. well you really
need to read this Dispatch
of the Day (or year?). Well done David. Congratulations Sir.

Random Notes:
I split this coverage page into two pages with all pre-May updates on
a new page This
will speed up the loading for climbers on slow connections.

As most other teams were down valley or monitoring the deteriorating
weather from base camp, IMG climber John Golden, along with two guides
and four Sherpas left from Camp 2 on a summit bid yesterday. Obviously
driven, John received a double human transplant on
his left leg in 2005 - visit his site for details. They were reported
above the Yellow Band around 8:30 AM after climbing for 7 hours - not
a bad time at all. After taking a good rest and hydration break at the
South Col they evaluated the weather and stopped the push. Here is the
report from IMG's Simonson:

Shea, Golden, Merle, and four sherpas made it up
to the Col yesterday by 11am but during the afternoon the weather deteriorated
so they were unable to make a summit attempt (they were planning to start
in the late evening). Down at Base Camp we had snow in the afternoon
and it is cloudy this morning and looks like it may continue. This morning
Justin reports from the Col that they are all OK after their overnight
there, and now are above the clouds, but that they are going to be coming
back down to Camp 2 today.

Eric goes on to report that they are back at C2 now. On a completely
different note, Simonson' also reports on the death of a cook boy at
base camp due to poisoning from locally purchased bootleg whiskey made
from methyl alcohol. This is very sad but not uncommon in this poor country.
Every effort was made to save him by the doctors at base camp.

Most of the dispatches comment on more watching and waiting for a good
weather window. Teams are slowly returning to base camp as are the Sherpas
from visiting their families and taking care of business back in their
villages.

A few climbers still need to spend their night at Camp 3 for acclimatization
purposes like 17 year-old Erica Dohring climbing with guide Dave Hahn.
Dave' gets the Dispatch
of the Day where he describes a recent attempt to get up there. I
like the over riding lesson from his post of patience and safety as he
says:

... We’d already passed through the big avalanche
scar on the route and were in the “popcorn” section when I did the math
and figured it just didn’t make sense for us to try getting to ABC as
planned. We’d all be too tired, overworked and dehydrated from so much
extra time spent out on the trail with packs on our backs ...

The weather forecasts have been reasonably consistent the past few days
looking for increasing winds so it was good that most teams did not try
for the summit in these dangerous conditions. The winds were about 70
m.p.h on the summit today. With so many people on the mountain, I am
sure leaders are becoming a little anxious that when a window appears
there will be a rush to the top.

Also it looks like there may be a two week gap from the time the ropes
were set to the summit and the first teams using them. So they may be
encrusted in new snow and ice needing to be dug out thus taking more
time for the first team.

All in all, this is actually all quite normal for a modern day Everest
- crazy weather and crowds. And the teams seem to be working pretty well
together with most taking a conservative path. Look for a quiet next
few days as the teams resettle base camp in snowy conditions.

Random Notes:
For you Twitter fans, two climbers are using it very effectively this season:
@gavinbate and @SPOTScott.

Alzheimer's Startling Fact:
Alzheimer's is the sixth-leading cause of death and recently passed diabetes.

A difficult week of contrasts on Mt. Everest. Early in the week five
Sherpas took the fixed rope all the way to the summit clearing the way
for all the teams to begin planning their summit bids. British climber,
David Tait was close behind this team and became the first westerner
to summit in 2009.

With that success and an ominous weather forecast, teams began the difficult
tasks of planning their own summit bids. The team leaders discussed the
situation to try to stagger climbs in order to prevent crowding. But
even now, there was crowding and congestion on the fixed ropes.

The main story was a hanging serac on Everest's West Shoulder. This
huge piece of snow and ice had been hinting all season that something
big was to come. Climbers, both new and veterans, watched it carefully
with every trip through the Icefall. With the warmer than normal temperatures
it was not if but when. Most climbers started earlier than normal for
their climbs to Camp 2, some starting as early as 2:00 AM.

Then in the early hours of Friday, May 7, teams noted even more activity
than before from this serac. Sherpas hurried their clients through the
fall zone - pushing them as hard as they have ever pushed. The Sherpa
community knew.

And then it happened, with a huge pop and crash, it let go. With all
the cameras on Everest this year, YouTube was quickly filled with video
showing the huge spray that engulfed the lower part of the Icefall and
then into base camp.

Twenty people were in the Icefall. Post after post and emails told of
running for cover, but the only cover offered were the car size ice blocks
that were big enough to hide behind but small enough not to topple over
from the blast

Climbers above and below the debris zone called one another to verify
each other's safety. All but three quickly reported in as being safe.
Two climbers and their Sherpa, climbing through the direct path, took
refuge as best they could. But all three were buried.

A frantic effort recovered two but the third was lost.

A canopy of sadness fell over base camp. And the understanding that
this is part of the contract when climbing these mountains. However some
felt the contract was too much and left for home. Other's regrouped and
returned through the Icefall with a sense that the worse was over from
the deadly serac.

Sitting at Camp 2 they listened to their radios as their home teams
worked the weather forecast. Hoping to climb quickly and thread a narrow
weather window, climbers were all dressed up and ready to go. But once
again, the mountain had the last word and the winds picked up, promising
not to let go for days ahead. Some returned to base camp, not defeated
but just delayed. And a few stayed at Camp 2 against the odds to go for
the ever disappearing summit window.

The teahouses in the Khumbu are doing a booming business overflowing
with climbers and trekkers. The Sherpas are back home spending some time
with wives and children. And they all know the clock is ticking. After
a good rest, everyone will return to base camp. With some luck, the winds
will become silent for a few days and the climbers will climb.

But for now, they are in their private worlds thinking of what just
happened and what their future holds.

Pushing for the Summit Today
Several IMG climbers left for the south col this morning (May 10) and
are targeting a summit bid after a few hours at the South Col. This
would have them on the top early Monday morning, May 11. My best wishes
for these guys since the weather is so variable right now.

SummitClimb left for Camp 2 today chasing a brief window around May
14/15. Over on the north SummitClimb there commented on how cold it is
which they say is not normal for this time of year. All in all a strange
weather year.

While there will be a few pushes for a narrow summit window, most teams
look like they will wait for a more stable and safe period that is at
least 4 days long. It is not common for a western climber to do multiple
summit pushes, while it does happen, most people are fairly tapped out
after one attempt.

Scott Parazynski's team posted a Teet (via Twitter) late Friday night
reporting no summit attempts for this round:

Keith Cowing: Weather conditions atop Mt. Everest
have become unacceptable for further ascent at this time. Scott and other
climbers have begun to descend from Camp II and should be back here at
Everest Base Camp any moment now. Stay tuned for updates.

It was a gamble that the winds would be low enough for a safe summit
without risking too much frostbite but it looks like the winds did not
let up. Several other reports noted that the weather would get worse
before it got better so we will have to see when the teams determine
it will be safe for another attempt.

Many climbers with IMG and Altitude Junkies, two of the teams that were
just up at Camp 2, are now headed down valley for some much need low-altitude
rest. SummitClimb never went up as they had planned.

Now that a day has passed since the massive avalanche that took a Sherpas'
life and ended two climber's journey, the processing of the event has
begun. Reading through the various dispatches this morning, there is
a slightly different tone to them. They range from fearful to reflective
to optimistic to pragmatic. Each person deals with the seriousness of
the crux of an expedition in different ways. Now that the avalanche has
taken a victim, the Icefall has taken on a new look. Also with an aborted
summit attempt by many climbers and the understanding that another window
may not appear until late May, the weight of their journey has become
a bit heavier.

But the avalanche is on most people's minds. With that there are three
stories from three very different people seen from three different perspectives.
Please take a few minutes to read each one. You need to read every word
in the context the author intended. This is life on Everest today.

Dave Hahn describes in
detail what he saw from base camp and then what he witnessed upon arriving
at the debris zone. Gilad Stern was so impacted the he decided to end
his entire expedition and tells his story of
no regret. And Bud Allen describes what
it feels like to be in the Asian Trekking camp, home of the expedition
most effected by the avalanche.

Death in the mountains is always difficult but especially so when it
involves a Sherpa. They are there doing a job while the "climbers" are
there doing what they love. While every Sherpa has immense respect for
nature, climbing is a means to support their families, put their kids
through school and make a better life.

Today,
an all Sherpa team was scheduled to return to the Icefall to search for
his body. In general bodies are left on the high slopes of Everest but
being so close to base camp, the Sherpas will make every effort.

When you trek to base camp as a climber, Sherpa, trekker or porter,
you pass by an area that holds perhaps 30 stone memorials to climbers
who have dies on Everest, the vast majority of these are for Sherpa.
It has been said a million times and to be said again, these are the
true heroes of Everest. They deserve all the respect, admiration and
support they receive.

If there is anything positive about this last avalanche it is put forth
by Becky from a conversation with Tim Rippel of Peak Freaks.

The relief part is because now that big chunk we
have watching has fallen off- GONE!!!!....Now they can freely finish
the climb without this literally hanging over their heads. He said there
is one more piece up there but it is far enough to the left, when it
goes it will land far away from the route.

IMG reports their climbers are still heading towards the summit and
are at Camp 2. Meanwhile other teams are revisiting their schedules and
evaluating the weather window. Tim Rippel has now set May 16/17 as a
potential summit day. Himex spent the day reviewing oxygen bottle procedures
and is looking at a summit bid at least a week from now. Adventure Consultants
and many others teams are relaxing in the teahouses in the villages down
valley. They are enjoying sleeping off the ground, having slightly different
food than at base camp but overall they are enjoying little more natural
oxygen at altitudes of about 13,000' and rebuilding their bodies before
the summit bid.

Manny Pizarro on the north side give us a good look at what is going
on and an expected summit date. The window is quickly closing on that
side with avalanches and route difficulties:

The weather is crisp cold and the winds strong and
harsh making us not forget who rules this mountain. The weather and the
collapse of an avalanche on the North Cole has delayed our ascent to
the next camps. The window of opportunity for summit day and the end
of season for climbing Everest is approaching. Waiting for the new ropes
to be fixed following the avalanche and for the winds to calm down has
affected our plans of bringing our loads of equipment and oxygen to the
higher camps. Our challenge right now will be to eliminate extra weight
and receive any help we can get to carry our loads.

Physically we are doing good, we have lost a considerable amount of weight,
we have headaches and decrease appetite, all of which is to be expected
at high altitude. We have started eating a liquid diet that supplies
us with the nutrients needed for cellular energy, this will also be our
sole summit diet. We plan to push to the next camps on May 7 to set up
camps 1-3 and then reach for the summit of Everest on May 15 or 16 or
maybe sooner.

It is beginning to look like teams are now focusing on mid May from
both sides. However, this is still over a week away - a lifetime in the
world of weather forecasting on Everest. Remember that May 21st has been
the summit day over the past several years and we are two weeks away
from that. But each year is different.

The issue is wind and cold that can create frostbite and impact the
strength of some climbers. This is when team leaders must manage expectations.
They get hourly questions of "When do you think we will go for it?" In
all reality, they are looking at their forecasts, talking to their Sherpas
and trying to keep everyone focused on building strength for the big
push. Sounds easy, but the tension grows as does the drama. Sometimes
waiting is harder than climbing.

A word on protocol before I post this report. Everest climbing season
bring accidents with injuries and sometimes death. My policy is not to
comment until I have a first hand witness report and preferably more
than one report that confirms the story then not to report names until
it is clear the family has had an opportunity to be notified. The following
meets that criteria.

Another massive avalanche off the west shoulder of Everest on Thursday,
May 7. Pictures are coming in showing a massive blast covering the lower
third of the entire Icefall including the route. To put this in perspective,
small avalanches almost always occur each year but 2009 has seen more
significant avalanches from this section. And it has hit the route more
often. Today's blast was huge as described by the most seasoned veterans.

We know climbers were headed up today including IMG sub team with Scott
Parazynski who has reported in from Camp 2 safely. However Gavin Bate
was returning from Camp 2 to base camp and came upon the avalanche zone.
He posted this just now on his site, but go to his site to
read the full report:

Suddenly we came across a cluster of Sherpas who
told us there had just been an accident, a huge avalance or collapse
literally minutes ago. Some people were hurt, someone was lost in the
debris, nobody seemed entirely sure.

I raced down with Pasang, sweat pouring into my eyes in the extreme heat
of the day, and came across a huge area of devastation. This had been
a very large avalanche and apparently two members and a Sherpa had been
caught in it. The two members, or foreigners, were alive but one was
hurt quite badly. One Sherpa was lost. This was the case of the needle
in the haystack. Damien Benegas was there organising ropes to be anhcored
down so someone could abseil into the now new crevasses to find any sign
of a body. It was a vast job but he was coping very well, as many Sherpas
congregated to help. Other than me, I saw few foreigners, so I grabbed
my axe and wrapped down the ropes into the new section of broken ice
to start searching.

It is very hard word at altitude but we kept at it, digging in the snow
and hacking at ice blocks to pull them away, to see the little flash
of colour or a boot or a rucksack strap which might give us a sign. Any
sign. People all came together to search for the body, but the area was
large and it is quite dangerous work, when you don’t know if there might
be another collapse.

Eventually after about an hour of digging there was a shout that a backpack
had been seen nearby and again Damien Benegas set up ropes to drop down
and look. I was totally exhausted and I could see that I would be no
use now. Sherpas have the strength and condition to do this sort of work,
but I was angry that I was so exhausted! I met a Discovery cameraman
who interviewed me but at that moment I wasn’t sure of the details of
the accident, I only knew we needed lots of people to search for somebody
whose life was perhaps ebbing away as we stood there.

To my knowledge the Sherpa has not been found, I write this having stumbled
into Base Camp where Ngima filled me with orange juice and soup, thank
God for him. I’m still feeling quite shaken by how close Pasang and I
were to the avalanche, there’s nothing you can do to prepare for, or
avoid, it (other than not come here, I suppose), but it does make you
stop a moment. I clip in every time, but if one of those seracs or lumps
of ice snaps off then there’s not a lot you can do except run.

Well done Damien Benegas for being there, on the ball, organising and
doing useful stuff. Once again the Benegas brothers have proved themselves
to be serious assets to the Everest season. I heard a lot of voices on
radios, not doing much, but I saw Damien doing something, and I was very
happy to be a part of the search and rescue.

Reports including from Peak Freaks, who posted the first report in the
middle of the night last night and IMG that has a full report as
well, note the injured climber was evacuated to base camp and the body
of the Sherpa has not been found. My deep condolences to the Sherpas
friends and family. My best wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured
climbers.

With all this instability in the Icefall it has had an impact on some
climbers. Several are posting on their blogs that they are headed home
now. There is no shame in this, after all going home safely to your family
is never wrong.

Teams Leaving Now for Summit Bid

So against this tragedy this morning, teams continue to look for the
summit window. And there are dramatically different views. Betting against
Mine that Bird in the Kentucky Derby cost gamblers a lot of money. He
won at 50-1 odds. On the other hand it made many people rich. Eric Simonson
seems to be the gambling type as Ed Wardell with the Discovery Channel
describes:

Eric Simonson, IMG expedition leader, says it's
time to go for the summit. He has laid his money on the table, thrown
down his cards, fired the gun, pulled the trigger.
Eric is gambling with Mother Nature. He’s spent years perfecting the
system, weeks pouring over the weather reports and discussing in detail
the strengths of the climbers and the state of the jet stream. But at
some point he has to say, “Its time to go.” If he’s wrong, we may only
get to Camp 2 and find the weather is so bad we have to turn back. He
may be right and in five days, we’ll be standing on the summit of the
highest mountain on Earth.

Most teams are down valley looking to rest at the lower altitudes before
their summit bid and not looking to thread the weather window. That said,
I personally know that Eric puts safety first for all his climbs so while
this may be positioned as a gamble, perhaps it is more of a calculated
decision with a solid backup plan. In a video dispatch Ed Viesturs said
in a video that
his elite team was also headed up looking for a May 12th summit window.

Russell Brice told a small sub team to get ready for their summit bid
yesterday according to Billi Bierling but then changed his mind as he
pondered the forecast - the window was just too small according to Billi.
Adventure Consultants reached the same conclusion so they and the huge
Himex team are not even considering a summit bid for at least a week
as are many other teams down valley. So it looks like IMG, SummitClimb
and a couple of others may be going for a summit early next week. I am
sure the Discovery producers love this drama. But as a guide once told
me, drama is for the theater, not the mountains.

On the north, trouble somewhat continues. After a slow and delayed
start, teams finally made it the North Col and Sherpas fixed the route
to 8300 meter. But an avalanche at the Col has now taken out the route
creating a short delay.

Everest feels very unstable this year -on both sides. My best wishes
for safe climbing for all.

Update #1
An update on the names of the climbers and Sherpa caught in the Icefall
avalanche today from Yuri Pritzker with Asian Trekking. Please read
Yuri's entire report.
My sincere deepest sympathy to Lhapka Nuru Sherpa's family and to the
entire Asian Trekking family. Lhapka Nuru Sherpa was 32 and had a wife
and three children.

We reached he BC 5 min later, and as it happened,
the Whole BC was watching the people still on the Ice Fall. All teams
called on the radio to check on their people. Soon we found out that
two people got into the crevasse, and it became known that it is the
two Austrians - Walter and Bernice.

Their Sherpa, Lachpa was missing. The BC response was tremendous. Many
Sherpas and Western Guides started running up. We were all watching with
binoculars and listening on the radio. We saw that some people were being
helped out of the crevasses.

Bernice was ok, but Walter could not move himself. We sow that group
separated with some helping down Walter and Bernice, some starting to
search for missing Sherpa. Emergency equipment was sent up - oxygen,
stretchers, down sleeping bag. After 40 min we started hearing some good
news - Walter was going on his own power.

2 hours after the avalanche hit the rescue group came to BC. Walter was
bruised, hypodermic, but was ok. However the search for Lachpa Sherpa
was unsuccessful, and was abandoned after 3h. This is the guy that I
talked with this morning….It is the first death this year on Everest,
and it is in our team.

Update #2
There remains significant concern about more avalanches for this same
section on the West Shoulder onto the Icefall. However, it seems the
largest piece was taken away with this last avalanche so some teams
feel relieved. An all Sherpa team will try to recover Lhapka Nuru's
body tomorrow. When Sherpas were killed in the Icefall in 2006, a day
of mourning followed to honor the Sherpas. I expect this to happen
this time as well.

With the first summits checked off and the route now fixed to the summit,
it becomes a watch and wait scenario for those on the south. Over on
the north, climbers are spending nights on the North Col but high winds
are stalling their progress a tad. SummitClimb reports in:

Today we tried to gain some more altitude, but it
was kind of hard because of the serious wind we experienced. Some members
reached as high as 7,600 members/24,000 metres, so no worries. We’re
now just hanging out here in the altitude to get more acclimatization
before we go down for our final rest. Also, today our sherpas took up
most of what we will need in Camp 2, so they did a very good job in such
strong winds.

For the 500 people in base camp in Nepal, the conversation is about
one subject and one subject only - weather. This is when weather forecast
are protected like state secrets and others share them like neighborhood
gossip. In the end, everyone knows everything and everyone knows nothing
- after all, it is weather!

Still there are teams that have not spent a night Camp 3 or are now
returning from that night to base camp. So all in all Everest remains
quite busy and will for the next several weeks. Dispatch after dispatch
seems to point to a summit window of May 12th. By window they mean a
3 to 5 day period when the winds on the summit are calm enough to climb.

As most of you know, the jet stream stays parked on Everest for 50 weeks
a year and only moves when high pressure or typhoons in the Bay of Bengal
form thus pushing the 150+ m.p.h. winds a bit off the summit. Traditionally
this happens in mid May each year.

So right now expedition leaders are looking at forecasts provided by
services in the US, Switzerland and other far-away places to try to discern
when the window will emerge. With so many climbers up there, the leaders
are trying to stagger their bids to avoid creating bottlenecks. It seems
that while Himex has been quite aggressive in acclimatizing, they are
now quite patient for the summit. Lance Fox says:

The good news is that the ropes are fixed to the
top. We now have to be patient for the ideal weather window. Some other
teams are heading up the mountain now yet we may not see our first team
ascend for several days if not a week or more. Unless something changes
significantly in the next week my next dispatch may be delayed a bit.
Time to rest, read, draw, throw the football, and maybe even have a brew
or two. Hard days are just ahead so please stay tuned. Remember, patience
is a virtue (yes, I am reminding myself of that as well).

Of course waiting is a double-edged sword. One one hand the days are
getting longer and warmer as we move towards summer but that also brings
the threat of monsoons and instability in the atmosphere. Also, the Icefall
becomes even more dangerous with the warmer days. But remember that even
waiting two more weeks will be about the same time, May 21st, as the
first summits on a "normal" year. So lot's of time for the
climbers to rest up.

A little more on the summits yesterday, David Tait was the only westerner
to accompanying the Sherpas. This was David's third Everest summit after
making it twice from the north side. In 2007 he wanted to do a double
traverse climbing from the north to south then back but stopped once
he made the single.

This year he wanted to go without supplemental oxygen. So he was on
a different acclimitization schedule than the rest of the Himex team
leaving base camp on April 23rd and was strangely quiet until today.
David is one of the most prolific writers who climbs so I missed reading
his updates. In any event he has caught up making today's post.
It is short, honest and genuine. Well done David all around, well done.

Finally, hearing of early summits, infrared cameras, sushi at base camp
and hot showers may give the impression impression that climbing Everest
is just not that hard. After all, with all these conveniences, what's
the problem? Well, never - ever - let anyone tell you that is it a cake-walk
, a yak route or any other diminishing description. These climbers, regardless
of training and experience will tell you that this is one of the toughest
things they have ever done in their entire life.

One of these climbers, Christophe Vandaele, shares his unfiltered emotions
on his last sortie towards Camp 3. It is the Dispatch
of the Day.

Well as expected we have our first summits of Everest in 2009 today.
The Sherpas who fixed the route to the Balcony yesterday (see map above)
continued today all the way to the summit. One Western climber, David
Tait joined them. David was scheduled to be climbing without supplemental
oxygen and has now summited from both sides (twice from the north). Congratulations
to everyone!

These are the names of the Sherpas: Panuru and Mingma Tenzing of IMG,
Himex sherpas Phurba Tashi, Dorjee Sherpa, Nima Sherpa and Thapkee Sherpa
with AAI.

This is how Eric Simonson proudly described the moment since his IMG
SHerpa was the first to top out this year:

IMG sherpa Mingma Tenzing was first on top of Everest
for 2009 at 12:25pm. Panuru (IMG), Kami Rita (AAI), Dorje and Nima Tsering
(Himex) were a few minutes behind him. They left the Col at 2:15am. Over
the last two days the five sherpas fixed the ropes from South Col to
the Summit and cut away a lot of old ropes on the rock step below the
South Summit and the Hillary Step as part of the continuing efforts this
year to clean up the route of a lot of the old ropes that have been left
on the mountain over the years. After their climb, they descended to
the Col, took down their tent, then descended to Camp 2, a very impressive
performance on the part of these men.

With the route now fixed look for multiple summits starting as soon
as the weather allows. Some of the IMG, First Ascent and other teams
are looking to start from base camp on May 8 which would put them on
the summit maybe on the 12th. However there is a conflicting report from
climber Billi Beirling with Himex with some very discouraging news:

The news [of the summit] reached us just as we were
finding out that the weather was supposed to change and that we might
have to wait for our summit push for about two weeks as high winds are
expected to hit the roof of the world.

While early, there have been earlier summits according to 8000ers.com with
44 on May 5, 54 on May 8 and 44 on May 9 over the years by various routes.
There have even been summits in February and April!

Check back for more updates today.

Random Notes:
Climbing is emotional. For a first hand view of some raw emotion, Himex
climber Gilad Stern shared his feelings about the recent avalanche
in the Icefall -- he was there. Thanks Gilad for your courage and this
is the Dispatch
of the Day

Interview with Guy Cotter
- Adventure Consultants

What if you ran one of the oldest guiding companies and due to injury
you had to stay home to monitor the progress, safety and success of your
team. Further, you have tuned your company over almost two decades for
small teams with highly personalized service with some of the most recognizable
names in the Sherpa community. Finally, you have the legacy of the most
publicized disaster on a high mountain.

Well, all this and more is part of a day's job for Guy Cotter, owner
of Adventure Constants. He runs his company out of Wanaka New Zealand
at the foothills of the Mount Aspiring National Park, some of the most
beautiful country on earth. I have climbed with AC on three different
expeditions, Guy and I have gotten to know each other over the years.
In the midst of this crowded season he graciously agreed to answer a
few questions on the eve of the summits

Q: AC has evolved quite a bit over the past
17 years. What are you most proud of for your company?The industry as a whole has evolved a huge amount since we started
leading expeditions into the worlds highest and the different players
have found their niche to offer the type of expedition they are most
comfortable in delivering to their prospective clients. I’m proud of
the fact that we have stayed committed to our objective of offering high
quality guided expeditions and that we have a strong contingent of return
clients who believe in the level of quality we deliver. I am also heartened
that we have evolved from being a very small organization running only
a few trips a year to one that can offer our clients a wide range of
expeditions including all Seven Summits and other expeditions and trips
across the globe. I gain a lot of satisfaction from working with a high
caliber of staff who share the objective of being the best we can be
at what we do and not becoming a juggernaut that ‘processes’ people for
the sake of income alone. We all enjoy it when our clients tell us that
their experience with us has been the best experience of their lives.

Q You run trips all over the world, which climb is the most difficult
to pull off year in, year out?Carstensz continues to be the most interesting trip we run due
to the nature of the infrastructure and every trip is a real adventure
in itself due to the fact we are operating in terrain where people are
still living in a pre historic age that is in such stark contrast to
the organised western world we live in.

Q: With climate change, there is a strong emphasis on protecting
the environment by climbers What are your thoughts on "green climbing"?I have always been an advocate for minimizing the impacts we
have on the world and I am always cognizant of the effects we have in
a social and environmental sense. We’ve been dragging other peoples garbage
off mountains ever since Rob Hall and Gary Ball ran the first ever clean
up of Everest basecamp back in 1990. Keeping the environment clean is
definitely part of a kiwi climbers heritage and one that is etched in
our national psyche. I do get upset when I see huge amounts of resources
going into clean up expeditions that may whip a few bottles off the sth
col but the overall impact of the expedition is greater than the environmental
benefits. The general public get’s convinced that there is an environmental
nightmare occurring but the money that goes into some of these trips
would be better spent on the education and health issues of the people
whose country’s we visit.

Q: AC tends to keep your teams under 10 climbers or
clients. Is this by design and why?Larger groups enable expedition outfitters to offer lower pricing
per person but in my view we lose the intimacy of our expeditions that
way and our social and environmental impacts are that much greater. I
know that if I was just in this for the money I’d run large groups at
the lower end of the cost spectrum and put fewer (and less qualified)
guides onto the trips to reduce costs but my personal standards dictate
that if I want to sleep at night I have to be able to say to myself that
I have done my very best to run the best trip I can with the most appropriate
level of resources to achieve the type of trip I’d like to go on myself.
I’m probably too idealistic for my own good but I feel good about operating
in this manner as do the clients on our trips who want a high quality
experience and recognize that you get what you pay for.

Q: With Everest summits happening right now, what worries you
most about the 2009 season?Naturally I am always concerned about the safety of all the
people on the mountain and feel a sense of relief when the season is
completed and they are all off the mountain. That there is a larger number
of people on the south side than normal due to the difficulties in Tibet
is of concern too but there are a sufficient number of ‘main players’
who can work together to coordinate the logistics on the mountain to
achieve the best results with the factors at play. At the end of the
day, the success (or not) of a season is dictated by weather. In 2005
we did not have a summit due to continued bad weather yet that season
saw some teams going to the summit in marginal conditions with little
safety margin and more than a few cases of frostbite.

Q: What do you think, as a true mountaineer, of the bolts on
the Yellow Band?Bolts are an emotive issue in mountaineering. On one hand the
small metal bolts are not intrusive and reduce the impacts that come
form other ‘anchors’ that are usually left behind such as snow pickets,
pitons etc. On the other hand some feel the mere fact that the rock has
been ‘violated’ is not acceptable. I am sympathetic to both arguments
but at the end of the day, in my view, there are more important things
to get passionate about that are a lot more meaningful.

Q: You recently had some knee work. How are you doing and how
much do you still get to climb?In the last twelve months I’ve had operations on both knees
which is due to years of wear and tear of the knee caps onto the cartilage
on the bottom of the femur. It’s called patella femoral syndrome so if
any of you readers feel hot sensations behind the kneecaps that’ll be
the same thing. My knees themselves are still really strong but I was
getting swelling and discomfort and figured I’d better get it sorted
now so I can get back at it later. I was scheduled to be climbing Kanchenjunga
right now but made the excruciating call to get myself fixed up instead.
I’m taking a winter off skiing but I’ll be climbing in Europe in September
and guiding on Elbrus after that so it’s not so bad taking time out to
fix the problem now. I climbed (guided) Everest again in 2006 and 2007
and will continue guiding and climbing on a few trips a year as well
as keeping up my rock climbing. I think that overall I have a good mix
of climbing and work in the office because with expedition organization
there’s always lots to think about!

With a mixed weather picture, some climbers were stalled out on Sunday
at the foot of the Lhotse Face while others quickly turned back in a
blizzard as Dave Hahn noted from Camp 2:

Today, just when it got ugly, mean and nasty out,
with the tent walls shaking and rough snow pellets, peppering everything
- just when it seemed proper to turn up the head tunes and guide by hiding
from reality - I became aware that all was not right.

But the five Sherpas who will fix the line to the summit are looking
at a Tuesday, May 5th summit according to Adventure Consultants:

It seems probable that the first Everest summit
of the 2009 season from Nepal will happen tomorrow (5 May) and this will
be mostly a Sherpa team from the 3 largest expeditions on the mountain.
This small window will be followed by a period of relatively high winds
in the summit region and the first large scale ascents could be approx
one week later.

The names, courtesy of IMG, of the five Sherpas are: Panuru and Mingma
Tenzing of IMG, Himex sherpas Dorje and Nima Tsering and Kami Rita with
AAI. Nice job guys!

Remember to look at the date when a dispatch is posted and that for
readers in the US, Nepal is 12 hours ahead. So you can easily read that
the weather was perfect and horrible on the same day! In this case it
was bad on Sunday and pretty good today, Monday, in Nepal.

A previous posting mentioned putting bolts into the Yellow Band. And
there is more talk of improving the route on the south side. IMG's post
the following:

Yesterday was a historic day for route making on
Everest. Kari Kobler donated his Hilti bolt gun and guides Willie Benegas
and Adrian Ballinger drilled six new 10cm Mammut stainless steel bolts
up on the Yellow Band to anchor two new ropes — one for up traffic and
one for down. Good work you guys. In the process they also cut down over
30kg of old rope. The immediate benificiaries will be the sherpas, who
have had to deal with a spider-web of old ropes over the years. Now,
this is much safer for them. When the climbers start going up to the
Col in the next few days they will find that this makes it a lot faster
and less confusing. We are hoping to do the same thing up on the Geneva
Spur next, and hopefully up in the rock step below the South Summit too.

By
bolts they are referring to steel cylinders that are drilled into the
rock using a high pressure gun. The fixed line is then attached to the
ring on the end of the screw. This makes for a solid attachment for the
fixed rope. Otherwise, ropes are attached to temporary anchors that can
slip out of crumbly rock thus not providing any support for the fixed
rope.

To
some, this feels like a common sense measure and appropriately makes
the route safer in dangerous places. For others it is further evidence
that Everest is looking more like a tourist route than a mountaineer's
home. There are arguments on both sides. However if you think that of
a Sherpa who may make 3 to 5 times more carries through these sections
than a client climber, it is all justified to keep these guys safe. I
guess if a climber objected to these improvements they could always not
use that anchor or rope - however unlikely.

A
similar discussion has been ongoing for years on the north side about
the ladder on the Second Step. Installed by the Chinese decades ago and
even upgraded by modern climbers recently, it now allows north summits
for the 99.999% of the climbers who could not free climb that section
without the ladder. An improvement or a crutch?

Mountaineering is full of controversies - gives people something to
do while stuck in tents during storms. And this will be yet another discussion.
I am sure both viewpoints will have their immoveable supporters.

Random Notes:
Dave Hahn's description of worrying about the Sherpas high up gets the Dispatch
of the Day.

This was a big week for climbers on the Nepal side. The majority of
teams had climbers spend a night at Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face at 23,500'
or 7162m. Also, Sherpas established a presence on the South Col with
tents, rope and oxygen bottles. Finally, in spite of some more movement
in the Ice fall, including the season's largest just yesterday (see video),
and a few snow showers, everyone was safe. You cannot ask for a better
week on Everest.

Over on the north, teams wrote of brief visits to the North Nol but not
above. There was no mention if the ropes were fixed above the Col and in
fact there was little mention of anything else. All in all, the north is
a bit of a mystery this year - not totally unexpected.

In a departure from recent years, the south route will be fixed to the
summit by a team of 5 Sherpas from three different teams ahead of the
large crowds. Speculation was that the ever present Discovery Channel
cameras were "encouraging" a level of cooperation not usually
seen. After all, what team does not want their moment in front of the
cameras - unless there is a problem!

We also got a hint of how Discovery will film climbers on summit night
as they tested infrared cameras in the dark on climbers in the Icefall.
Other climbers noted they are wearing chest cameras to record their viewpoint
while they climb, an improvement on the traditional helmetcam. During
practice, the signal was relayed via microwave to base camp. The video
from these techniques could be stunning.

Once climbers returned from Camp 3 to base camp, they had a decision.
In recent years it has become popular to go back down valley and spend
a few nights in a teahouse to rest up in the "thick air" -
a more reasonable altitude than base camp. But there is a downside as
Scott Parazynski told Miles O'Brien who then added some color commentary:

... This was a surprise as he told me 24 hours ago
that he was going to hike down into thicker air to do some blood doping
for the big push to the top. But on further reflection, he decided not
to go. Word is some climbers got the trots while there - and it is overrun
with lowly trekkers - who are not aiming for the summit. A real mountaineer
cannot be seen with such a crowd, can he /she?

Team leaders are thinking deeply about their summit bids. Tim Rippel
sums it up for his team -

We will all take a rest, including the Sherpas.
A good four days for everyone is what we would like to see, maybe more.
Some of the climbers may opt to retreat down the valley to refresh their
oxygen saturation levels. We need to try and figure out who is going
when so we aren't in the middle of the masses, all going at the same
time. This is the tricky part because there are so many people up here
and so many TV cameras with filming agendas. All climbers seem to climb
with a video camera these days so there will be a lot of footage come
out of Everest this year. Let's pray for no drama. If the weather holds
it should work out just fine spreading everyone out. If the window gets
squeezed because of weather, then we have a problem, otherwise I am sure
we can all work together moving climbers up and down safely.

Overall, the weather continues to be better than normal with low snowfall
and with a few gale-force days, manageable winds. However, we all know
weather and in fact, it was a tough weekend on Everest with high winds
and some snow. Scott Woolums guiding the Strange Team reported this morning
that:

Epic day today here in Camp 2. Started out good,
but very soon some serious weather came in. We left around 7am for Camp
3. Within an hour we had decided to turn around as lots of wind and a
lowering cloud cieling threatened. By the time we arrived back at Camp
2 a full scale storm raged. The biggest concern now was our Sherpas up
near the South Col. They started up with the last of our Oxygen at 1am
this morning. We had good radio communications with all. A very serious
day.

It remains to be seen what the conditions are on the Triangular Face
but there could be more rock than snow for a change. Unless there is
a major weather event this week, don't be surprised to see the first
summits from the south in late week continuing through mid May.

Regardless of whether I am on the mountain or back home like this year,
I start to get a little apprehensive for the climbers. The hard work
of acclimatizing is done, the camps are in, bottles cached up high. All
that is left is to watch and wait for a summit window. Stay safe everyone
- climb on!

Memories are Everything®: The 7 Summits
Two weeks ago, I mentioned that my primary reason for covering Everest
and climbing mountains is to raise money for Alzheimer's research.
I also hinted of a big project. Well here is more detail and an opportunity
to participate. In conjunction with the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, we will
be doing fund raising activities as I climb the 7 Summits starting
in 2010. This will be a unique effort that will touch thousands around
the world. Please contact me if you would like to be part of this as
a fund raiser, event organizer, corporate sponsor or qualified climber.
You can read more at this link.

In a limited way, Everest is back to being balanced this year after
being one-sided in 2008. As many Everest followers will remember, the
Olympic torch relay became the only team to climb from Tibet in 2008.
It was very controversial and reeked havoc in the climbing world but
was a tiny footnote everywhere else.

For 2009, the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, CTMA, was vague
about permits officially saying they wanted to clean the trash off Everest's
north side before permitting commercial expeditions on the mountain.
The delays and uncertainties drug on encouraging many of the regular
north side operators to switch to the south side for 2009. However a
few stayed committed to the north and are there today.

Teams dealt with border closings and permit issues by delaying their
arrival or trekking in Nepal's Kumbu to get a jump on acclimatizing.
And when the border was open, they were thrilled as reported by the Canadian
Frogs in mid April:

... we finally managed to cross the border! We're
currently in Nyalam, Tibet with the Czecks and a mixed internal team
(2 Spanish, 1 German, 1 Equatorian, 1 Polish and 1 Italian). Can't
wait to be at base camp. We should be there in 4 days. According
to CTMA, the Japanese are in Tingri now and should be at base camp tomorrow.

Adventure Peaks arrived even later posting on April 29th:

The team arrived at ABC yesterday and have spent
there time resting and acclimatizing around ABC. They will walk to the
bottom of the headwall today before they head up to the North Col in
a couple of days time.

The good news is that due to the Olympic torch effort, the roads to
base camp were paved making access to the base camp faster and easier.
The bad news is access to the camp is faster and easier. Teams normally
used the difficult access and extended travel time to the camp at 17,000'
to acclimatize to the high altitude.

This what the Canadian team Manny Pizarro and André Rossin-Arthiat reported
on April 25th:

... because of the olympics of 2008, the roads of
Kodari to Tingri were in a lot better conditions than in 2007. 70% of
the roads are newly paved and, after the city of Jangmu they were able
to roll in good pace. Therefore, they have arrived at the base camp more
quickly ... they climbed to 11,000 feet in a little less than 72 hours.
It is necessary to remember that the ascension time of the south side
requires more than 14 days to attain this altitude. Fortunately, their
bodies are still semi acclimated. They met other mountaineers that literally
were crushed by the altitude and they had to go back down until their
departure point to Kodari.

SummitClimb seemed to be the only Western team to get a jump on everyone
arriving at base camp on April 18th. Still about 3 weeks later than in
2007.

While there has been no comment specifically on the CTMA rope fixing
progress, in both 2006 and 2007, Himex Sherpas had not only fixed the
route but also summited by the end of April. To be fair, we have had
very limited communication from western teams this year with SummitClimb
and Adventure Peaks posting occasional dispatches with basic information.
So it is difficult to have a clear picture of what is happening on that
side.

Similar to the south side, there is quite an international presence
on the north with Japanese, Columbians, Indians, and more. We do know
that teams have camps established at the North Col and are proceeding
with their normal acclimatization programs. At one point it was reported
that 200 climbing permits were to be issued for the Tibet side so we
can assume that the mountain is busy. All my best to all the teams.

Meanwhile on the south, the Discovery film team is preparing for the
summit bid by asking some climbers with Himex to use chest mounted cameras.
Lance Fox commented on this. They are also using hi-tech film techniques
as described by IMG's Simonson:

Ed and Ang Pasang were out in the predawn hours
filming the Himex team with infrared cameras as the climbers started
up the Icefall. The live footage was sent back by microwave to BC where
it was recorded to tape. This was a test of the system that will be used
on the summit bids to follow the climbers up high.

We separated the garbage by type: aluminium, mostly
old ladders and tent poles; rusted tin cans; biodegradable and burnable
material like cardboard, paper, old tents, plastics, etc.; batteries
and other toxic items; helicopter parts; and Treasure, like a tin cans
that says “1964”, wooden beams with crampon marks that were used before
the advent of ladders (some could quite possibly have been used in the
1953 Tenzing-Hillary Expedition in the icefall), old oxygen bottles,
ancient film reels in what looks like little lunch boxes, miniature stoves
for high altitude, etc.

The climbers are all talking of early summits this year with about half
now back down to base camp after their night at Camp 3. Look for a few
quiet days as the remainder of the teams return for a little R&R
before the big push starting as early as late next week!

Random Notes:
Remember to read the actual dispatches from the teams via the links above
or going directly to their website. While I try to capture the feeling,
there is nothing like reading their own words. The Dispatch of the
Day is from Lance
Fox with Himex.

Alzheimer's Startling Fact:
Alzheimer's can strike anyone, anytime with early onset effecting people
in their 40's.

Teams continue to make their way to 23,500' on the south side of Everest
for a night at Camp 3. The Lhotse - Everest Traverse team has acclimatized
to 7400 meters and is returning to base camp awaiting the weather window
for a Lhotse then Everest summit. Predictions of snow snow accumulation
came true allowing the hard working Sherpas to take rest day finally.

It looks like many teams are targeting a summit bid well before the
historically early date of May 11. Back on March 21st, Scott Parazynski
published a schedule on his blog with May 14th as the summit day. He
may be very close if he weather holds!

The Lhotse Face is quite busy with climbers going up to C3, Sherpas
all the way to the South Col and everybody returning to C2 at some point.
Then they will spend several days at base camp resting up for the big
push. I easily estimate there could be over 100 people at any given time
on the Face.

So what's going on?

In a word - acclimatization. Or the process of the human body adjusting
to the current environment. Just like how we perspire to cool the body
in extreme heat, shiver to warm ourselves in extreme cold; our bodies
also react to extreme lack of oxygen. However unlike getting warmer or
cooler,there is no switch you can throw or room you can go into on a
mountain (or anywhere) to quickly create more red blood cells.

Here is what is happening to the body - with the disclaimer that I am
not a doctor (or play one on television). First the human body simply
does not function well at high altitudes and especially above 8000m (26,300').
As you go higher, the barometric pressure decreases, although the air
still contains 21% oxygen, every breath contains less molecules of oxygen.

Once exposed to high altitude and less oxygen, the watery part of blood
(plasma) decreases to increase the density of the red blood cells thus
making blood thicker and harder for the heart to pump. The heart pumps
faster and we breath harder to compensate. Over time, this is corrected
with more red blood cells and basic bodily functions somewhat return
near normal.

Red blood cells are critical since they carry oxygen to the muscles.
Without sufficient oxygen, muscles get tired quickly but more critically,
a climber could suffer from potentially fatal cerebral edema (the brain
swells) or pulmonary edema (fluid build-up in the lungs). The only cure
is to get lower fast (1000' minimum) but if you are high up on the mountain
this is often impossible.

So our climbers are forcing this red blood cell creation right now by
climbing to Camp 3 on the Nepal side or the North Col or slightly higher
from Tibet. By climbing higher than the previous day then returning to
a lower altitude, the body creates these red blood cells. By the way,
an obvious comment, it does not matter if you are climbing Everest or
Kilimanjaro or going to a 9,000' ski resort, the body reacts the same
way to altitude thus the need for some kind of acclimatization.

This year we are seeing a couple of approaches to acclimatization on
Everest. The program used for years was for teams to make multiple, and
ever higher, trips towards their summit bid launching point (the South
Col for the south side) through the climb high, sleep low paradigm. This
was started commercially in the mid 1990's by amongst others, Adventure
Consultants. Over time it has been refined to what we see today and is
used by climbers all over the world.

Fearing the dangers of the Icefall, Himex has taken a slightly different
program but the principles are the same. Instead of using the High Camps
in the Western Cwm, Brice had his team climb to the summit of safer Lobuche
Peak - twice - to force the creation of red blood cells. However, they
still need to spend some time above the 20,100' peak to be prepared for
the rigors of 29,000' so they are now heading towards Camp 3 at 23,500'
for a night just like everyone else. This program did eliminate at least
two trips through the Icefall.

I found it interesting (or at least motivating for a regular climber
like myself) listening to
uber climber Ed Viesturs describe his acclimatization program this year.
It is the same as most other climbers. Another interesting case is David
Tait who is climbing without supplemental oxygen. He is following the
regular program but with a trip to the South Col - 1800' higher than
Camp 3. This is how he described it:

The basic outline is to spend a few nights at C2
before climbing to C3 [7500m] where all will sleep. I, unlike the others
who will then descend, will be expected to then climb to the South Col.
or C4 [7950m] before descending back to C3 where I will spend a further
night before a final return to Bc with the whole party. At this point
it is accepted that all our acclimatization will be "complete",
or at least adequate.

While on the subject of supplemental oxygen, it only makes about a 3,000'
difference to the body so if you are at 28,000' you still feel like you
are at 25,000' However it does keep you warmer thus reducing the load
on your heart and lungs to pump blood especially to your fingers and
toes. Almost all the climbers start using O's when leaving Camp 3 for
the South Col and their summit bid.

And what about the Sherpas? Well they are just as human as the rest
of us and get altitude sickness just the same. They need to acclimatize,
stay hydrated and take care of themselves just like every other climber.

Finally proper hydration
is critical to acclimatization - urine needs to be almost clear in color.

OK, more than you ever wanted to know about acclimatizing but one more
thing, and this is what makes it so frustrating. A climber can do everything
perfect and still not acclimatize. Or they can have a great history of
performing at altitude and then have a bad experience. So once again,
the human body was not designed to function properly at these extreme
altitudes. Who lives permanently at the highest altitude? The people
of La Rinconada in southern Peru at 16,732'.

If you want to read more about this entire process, these websites are
well done: